Well, folks, he did it again. He gave another one of his famous speeches, and all of the liberals (real or imagined) of one stripe or another have been reduced to the orgasmic state because Our President has finally turned the corner and is going to be tough with the opposition. He has finally realized that he has a set of gonads! Now, I ask you, how many times is he going to have to go through the motions of an oratorical genius that would put Roman Senators to shame before we realize that is his stock in trade. He gives a speech that has nothing to do with his real agenda. We are lulled into believing this guy is, finally, going to show us that he is a real Democrat. Then, what does he do? He goes back to the White House, meets behind closed doors or in secret with the very ones he vilified in his speech, and strikes a deal that is diametrically opposed to what he said he was going to do for the American people. The script is so old and tired that it wouldn’t take much talent for a minor actor to write it with his eyes closed.
How many times do we have to be led down this path before we come to the conclusion that only one thing can be said about him with any degree of certainty? He is consistently inconsistent! He is a lifelong student on the subject of elitism, with a solid base of support from those who are in the business of destroying the Middle Class and working people of this country. Those are his constituency, not those who want so desperately to believe that he is the real deal. He has played the Democrats for a bunch of fools for over two plus years and still gets away with it. They still give him a free pass, the cost of which is nothing more but well-crafted rhetoric and a teleprompter.
He has just come out with a real barn-burner. He has reassured us, once again, that he is there to serve the lesser of us “Americans,” knowing full well that he has no intentions of living up to the letter of what he is preaching. The real deal is what he has in mind for the powerbrokers who lace his pockets with enough “moola” to keep him in office.
Without wishing to belabor this matter, permit me to simply pose a few random questions based on his campaign promises in 2008 in order to illustrate my doubts about how credible he really is.
1. When he campaigned for the Presidency in 2008 we were assured that he would hold to account the members of the previous administration who were guilty of war crimes. That was dismissed soon after his election with words to the effect that “he preferred to look to the future rather than dwell on the past.” Just an empty promise to the memory of all those who suffered at their hands.
2. What happened to his promise to outlaw the warrantless wiretapping of American citizens?
3. What happened to his promise to close Guantanamo Bay?
4. What happened to his original timetable for exiting from Iraq and Afghanistan?
5. What happened to his support for a national health plan that would include a public option and reign in the obscene profits of health care providers and private insurance carriers?
6. What happened to his promise that pharmaceutical companies would be required to negotiate drug prices with the government?
7. What happened to the stringent controls that were going to be imposed on the financial institutions on Wall Street? The Dodd-Frank Bill is an impotent second-best, most of which is yet to become law.
8. What happened to the consumer protection laws that were to insulate consumers from the predatory lending practices of every huckster in the business of lending, credit card companies, mortgage companies, etc.? Full financial disclosure and all of the other means of reigning in the bandits that sold out this country was to be the order of the day. Why was Elizabeth Warren so hastily marginalized before she could even get her sea legs and begin to do something meaningful? You don’t suppose the big boys in high places who stood to lose their license to do whatever they wanted in the name of the almighty profit set their sights on her, do you?
9. What happened to his promise to hold to account British Petroleum and the other opportunists that precipitated the Gulf oil crisis? What was done to make whole the legions of hard-working people living along the Gulf Coast who depended on a healthy Gulf for their livelihood?
10. What happened to his promise to restore an level playing field for organized labor in dealing with management?
11. What happened to his promise to strengthen NAFTA and CAFTA so they would be more balanced in terms of ensuring the interests of American business and American workers were fairly served?
12. Why, as he rails on and on about creating jobs, is he quietly working to expand our “free” trade agreements with other countries around the world that will shift hundreds of thousands of jobs “overseas?” Think Columbia, Honduras and Korea.
13. Why did he so quickly phase out some of the best economic minds and trade specialists in the country in favor of the rogues that surrounded Bill Clinton and his happy band of thieves? Think Larry Summers, Robert Rubin, Rahm Emmanuel, Timothy Geithner and a whole host of lesser sharks? He has, also, fortified that bunch with an economic advisor from General Electric and a son of the infamous Mayor Daley of Chicago? Does the aura of William Jefferson Clinton still inhabit the halls of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or is the President simply doing what he does best? Fronting for the real power brokers. Who said corporate power is not alive and well in this administration?
14. Why has Obama managed to steadfastly avoid any close association with disenfranchised labor organizations fighting for a fair shake in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, etc? Has he lost sight of the fact that the majority of those same people supported him in his run for President in 2008? Or worse yet, does he even care?
Perhaps, at the end of the day, this is the manifestation of someone who, long ago, sold his soul to vast wealth, and massive political and social power. Does he see one of his paramount responsibilities as playing to the institutions of government that are so powerful and so compromised they have become impervious to proper oversight and accountability to those who, ostensibly, represent the American people?
Is his folksy rhetoric at town hall meetings or manufacturing plants the real Obama, or is his imperial countenance that we saw in Berlin and in Grant Park in Chicago the elitist so many of us are predisposed to seeing. But you can hardly compare the inherent worth of a waitress at Denny’s in Poughkeepsie, New York to that of a grand and narcissistic billionairess that sees him as nothing less than the reincarnation of Adonis himself.
This guy, insofar as I am concerned, is no friend or advocate for the Middle Class and working people that made this county great. He never was and never will be. What we are witnessing (and which will only intensify in the months to come) is a very well honed and skilled attempt to seduce all of those people into voting him in for another term so he can continue to serve the vultures that feed on the rotting flesh of this country. What does he have in his bag of tricks that he will take from the working people of this country and offer it to the Teabaggers and Republicans in exchange for their “bi-partisan support?” How about Medicare and Medicaid for starters?
At the very least he needs to be challenged for the Democratic nomination in 2012 by a real Democrat with the leadership skills, the credibility and the integrity to bring strength and honor to that office once again. Let the incumbent make a dignified exit and take his time shopping for a summer home on Lake Cuomo, a winter retreat in the Caribbean and a secluded mansion on the North Shore of Chicago. Surely, the rewards for being a loyal and devoted steward to the rich and famous, coupled with his government retirement benefits, would provide him with the means to live in the manner which he has coveted for such a long time.
I wasted my vote in 2008. The next time around, if President Obama is the only choice, I think I will take a pass and let the chips fall where they may. It couldn’t get any worse.
Cowboy Bob
September 20, 2011
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
The End of America
This is extremely well done. It is a good example of outstanding journalism. It is profound, thought-provoking and very sobering. The video takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes, but it is something every conscientious American should take the time to watch. I, for one, take a critical, but serious, view of anything that might suggest collusion between government, big money, big corporations and the military/industrial complex. History is replete with examples of totalitarian regimes that have endeavored to lull those who are the object of their conquest into complacency, ultimately, at their own peril.
I hope you are successful in accessing this video presentation.
Cowboy Bob
aka The Sagebrush Philosopher
September 17, 2011
The End of America
based on The New York Times best seller
Click here to watch the complete documentary.
http://www.nidokidos.org/threads/66443-The-End-of-America From award-winning filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern (The Devil Came on Horseback and The Trials of Darryl Hunt) comes the provocative and expertly crafted film, THE END OF AMERICA, based on The New York Times best seller by the same name. In a stunning indictment of sweeping policy changes during the Bush years, author Naomi Wolf (The Beauty Myth) makes a chilling case that American democracy is under threat.
Investigating parallels between our current situation and the rise of dictators and fascism in once-free societies, Wolf uncovers a number of deeply unsettling similarities—from the use of paramilitary groups and secret prisons to the targeted suspension of the rule of law. With this galvanizing call to arms based on her recent book, she urges regular citizens to take back our legacy of freedom and justice.
We are all in danger. A police state control grid is being established in the United States. Now is the time for all lovers of liberty to stand together and speak out against the growing tyranny destroying our Republic. We WILL be victorious against the New World Order.
I hope you are successful in accessing this video presentation.
Cowboy Bob
aka The Sagebrush Philosopher
September 17, 2011
The End of America
based on The New York Times best seller
Click here to watch the complete documentary.
http://www.nidokidos.org/threads/66443-The-End-of-America From award-winning filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern (The Devil Came on Horseback and The Trials of Darryl Hunt) comes the provocative and expertly crafted film, THE END OF AMERICA, based on The New York Times best seller by the same name. In a stunning indictment of sweeping policy changes during the Bush years, author Naomi Wolf (The Beauty Myth) makes a chilling case that American democracy is under threat.
Investigating parallels between our current situation and the rise of dictators and fascism in once-free societies, Wolf uncovers a number of deeply unsettling similarities—from the use of paramilitary groups and secret prisons to the targeted suspension of the rule of law. With this galvanizing call to arms based on her recent book, she urges regular citizens to take back our legacy of freedom and justice.
We are all in danger. A police state control grid is being established in the United States. Now is the time for all lovers of liberty to stand together and speak out against the growing tyranny destroying our Republic. We WILL be victorious against the New World Order.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
“The U.S. And Eliot Spitzer Deserve Another Chance”
My Grandfather on my Dad’s side of the family was a classic patriarch. He was, without question, the head of the family and he maintained that exalted position until he took leave of this earthly existence. He had his share of faults and had an eye for members of the opposite sex that was the cause of marital discord on more than one occasion. But, he redeemed himself in many respects through his generosity and his ability to be one of the greatest “Grandpa’s” of all time. He could be harsh in his assessment of his fellow men, often laced with some pearls of wisdom in his perception of them and their follies. One of his better insights was his observation that, “If a man waves a Bible in your face keep your back to the wall.” From my perspective, that was pretty good advice which I never forgot. In my lifetime I have seen far more hypocrites in church than I ever encountered in a good bar.
There is nothing that brings out our righteous indignation and plays to our need to be seen as a pillar of virtue more than when savoring the titillating delights of some other person’s fall from grace. My, my but how quickly we can become shocked! That entire manifestation of human behavior loses its “oomph” rather quickly when we honestly reflect on our own battles with the power of hormones. All of which, in turn, leads me to see the moral outrage espoused by others for what it really is --- complete hypocrisy and the naughty and titillating delight of reveling in what we will never know and can only imagine!
When one of these very sordid revelations hits the public arena, the sound of the gasps can be deafening and the shocked expressions can be seen for miles. I cannot help but wonder how many of those paragons of virtue dress like street walkers in the name of fashion, and how many of their significant others are watching porn at home while dinner is being prepared in the kitchen.
Now, I see a wide disparity between being weak when it comes to matters of the flesh versus outright vulgarity. The former I can accept for what it is – human frailty that falls within the realm of recovery and redemption. The latter I regard as the complete degradation of another human being and the complete abdication of any sense of basic decency. It is, in my opinion, an escape into every conceivable kind and degree of human depravity. It is an assault on our humanity and on our sexuality.
In recent history we have seen various manifestations of the salacious side of life, some rising to outright notoriety that captures the attention and the outrage of every defender of moral purity known to mankind. Political figures, in particular, seem to have captured the spotlight in that regard and to a greater extent than less notable mortals. Let me focus on just two who have found themselves in the spotlight during their public life.
The first of course, is William Jefferson Clinton. If there was ever an example of moral degeneracy and vulgarity personified, it was in the person of President Clinton. I find it rather incredulous that he, as the most powerful man in the world, could not have controlled the situation and avoided exploiting a poor little rich girl from Beverly Hills, who must surely have been completely awed by the charm, charisma and sheer power of the man in the Oval Office. He managed to get her under his desk in the Oval Office, providing oral delights for his erotic pleasure while he, a true master of the art of multitasking, fiddled with a cigar and talked on the telephone. The maelstrom that followed and which subjected the nation to every sordid detail of his personal life was front page news for weeks. He lied under oath, to the press and to those around him and, not least of all, the nation. He disgraced the office he held and the trust placed in him by the American people. He sought help and consolation from every Southern minister who would give him the time of day. But, despite his attempts and help from the establishment and the news media, the shadow of that stigma still follows him. He may be held out as the senior statesman among us and the paragon of redemption, but I still think the rogue is still alive and well somewhere within his person, the dubious title of “President of the World,” notwithstanding.
There is, to my way of thinking, a common thread in his relationship between his private and public persona. It centers around issues of personal morality and integrity. No amount of effort to sanitize him will ever convince me that he is anything but an unsavory character that serves a very suspect group of those who wield great power and influence within the world of national politics.
I find it all rather incongruous that we would be expected to believe that his relationship with Phil Gramm, Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Alan Greenspan, Rahm Emanuel and other lesser but well-known characters in tailored suits were examples of devoted public servants. Those are the folks, among others, who completely deregulated the financial industries, which were laid waste for plundering by every huckster and profiteer in the business and in successive administrations. Does anyone really expect us to believe that the whopping surplus amassed during the Clinton Administration would not be a temptation for the taking by the incoming administration of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, the Neocons and their dreams of empire. They had to have known that their assault on the integrity of our financial institutions, coupled with a massive federal surplus would be like putting candy before a baby to those who would succeed them in 2000. To conclude otherwise defies all rudimentary logic. What we will never know is to what extent all of those partners in crime profited from their schemes and the resultant paralysis inflicted on the nation for decades to come. I would not wish to suggest anything other than good networking, but I do find it rather coincidental that Chelsea Clinton is now a Hedge Fund Manager.
The fact that most of those same players have so readily moved into the Obama White House in order to play an active role in the current administration. In concert, they further deprive the nation of the very lifeblood required in order to maintain a healthy economy and a decent standard of living for every American, all of which gives pause to the most trusting of people. I believe there is cause for concern. Obama and his minions may choose to call it “Change We Can Believe In,” but I am inclined to think there is more to the depth and extent of those relationships that trumps the welfare of the nation. The prominence of former Clintonites in key positions within the Obama Administration is, I believe, suspect. I don’t see any evidence that would suggest the nation and its people are better off because of those unholy alliances. Who is the real leader and who are the real power brokers? The closeness of that particular clique reminds me of an observation attributed to an old hillbilly – “Vice is nice but incest is best!”
In the final analysis, the conduct of Bill Clinton and his venue for his escapades is, at the very least, salacious. He not only disgraced himself and the office he held, but he shamed himself before the American people and, indeed, the world. That is history and no amount of image polishing will ever change that.
Now, let’s look into the matter of the other political notable who found himself in a maelstrom created by his sexual appetite and the manner in which he chose to deal with it. Because of the arena in which he served, he has generated his share of controversy. It is not for me to judge the man but what he did was, without question, beyond the bounds of decency. However, how he chose to address and deal with the matter suggests a person of infinitely stronger character than Mr. Clinton.
To my knowledge, Eliot Spitzer never hit on members of his staff and he never used the facilities of the offices he held for immoral purposes. What he did was done outside his official positions and the offices he held. He was by all accounts a dedicated public servant, with sterling credentials with a track record of diligence and integrity. He is considered to be one of the best Attorneys General in the History of New York and he conducted himself as Governor with dignity and strength of purpose.
Eliot Spitzer has accepted full responsibility for his conduct. When I recently saw him interviewed on television he was asked about his extra-marital affairs. He never sidestepped the issue, but stated, unequivocally, that what he did was wrong, but it was a private matter that was being addressed by him and his wife. He said it was a personal issue between the two of them and he would not discuss it further. I don’t think he could have been more forthcoming than that. I trust the man.
Eliot Spitzer is probably one of the most competent and effective political figures to hit the national stage in a very long time. He is an unusually bright, energetic and dedicated man in his professional pursuits, and he has maintained an impeccable public image since he resigned as Governor of New York. He has all the qualifications, experience and stature to be a strong and effective leader of national prominence. He has proven to be tenacious and determined in his professional and political life.
I would hope that a new political party could be created that would offer this nation what it needs in order to clean up the corruption and self-serving milieu within our Federal Government. But I am not confident there is the will or the time necessary to make that happen. Short of that, however, I do believe that Barack Obama should be challenged for a second term as President of the United States. He has failed the tests that would convince me he is a leader and a man of personal integrity. He has not been true to his party, to the people of this country and to the promises he made when he campaigned for election in 2008.
If Obama’s nomination for a second term were to be challenged, I would put my money on Eliot Spitzer to salvage our government, restore its ideals and principles, and return it to its rightful owners --- the citizens of the United States of America.
To paraphrase an old Native American, “Oh, Great Spirit, keep me from ever judging a man until I have walked a mile in his moccasins.”
Eliot Spitzer deserves a second chance.
Cowboy Bob
aka The Sagebrush Philosopher
September 13, 2011
There is nothing that brings out our righteous indignation and plays to our need to be seen as a pillar of virtue more than when savoring the titillating delights of some other person’s fall from grace. My, my but how quickly we can become shocked! That entire manifestation of human behavior loses its “oomph” rather quickly when we honestly reflect on our own battles with the power of hormones. All of which, in turn, leads me to see the moral outrage espoused by others for what it really is --- complete hypocrisy and the naughty and titillating delight of reveling in what we will never know and can only imagine!
When one of these very sordid revelations hits the public arena, the sound of the gasps can be deafening and the shocked expressions can be seen for miles. I cannot help but wonder how many of those paragons of virtue dress like street walkers in the name of fashion, and how many of their significant others are watching porn at home while dinner is being prepared in the kitchen.
Now, I see a wide disparity between being weak when it comes to matters of the flesh versus outright vulgarity. The former I can accept for what it is – human frailty that falls within the realm of recovery and redemption. The latter I regard as the complete degradation of another human being and the complete abdication of any sense of basic decency. It is, in my opinion, an escape into every conceivable kind and degree of human depravity. It is an assault on our humanity and on our sexuality.
In recent history we have seen various manifestations of the salacious side of life, some rising to outright notoriety that captures the attention and the outrage of every defender of moral purity known to mankind. Political figures, in particular, seem to have captured the spotlight in that regard and to a greater extent than less notable mortals. Let me focus on just two who have found themselves in the spotlight during their public life.
The first of course, is William Jefferson Clinton. If there was ever an example of moral degeneracy and vulgarity personified, it was in the person of President Clinton. I find it rather incredulous that he, as the most powerful man in the world, could not have controlled the situation and avoided exploiting a poor little rich girl from Beverly Hills, who must surely have been completely awed by the charm, charisma and sheer power of the man in the Oval Office. He managed to get her under his desk in the Oval Office, providing oral delights for his erotic pleasure while he, a true master of the art of multitasking, fiddled with a cigar and talked on the telephone. The maelstrom that followed and which subjected the nation to every sordid detail of his personal life was front page news for weeks. He lied under oath, to the press and to those around him and, not least of all, the nation. He disgraced the office he held and the trust placed in him by the American people. He sought help and consolation from every Southern minister who would give him the time of day. But, despite his attempts and help from the establishment and the news media, the shadow of that stigma still follows him. He may be held out as the senior statesman among us and the paragon of redemption, but I still think the rogue is still alive and well somewhere within his person, the dubious title of “President of the World,” notwithstanding.
There is, to my way of thinking, a common thread in his relationship between his private and public persona. It centers around issues of personal morality and integrity. No amount of effort to sanitize him will ever convince me that he is anything but an unsavory character that serves a very suspect group of those who wield great power and influence within the world of national politics.
I find it all rather incongruous that we would be expected to believe that his relationship with Phil Gramm, Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Alan Greenspan, Rahm Emanuel and other lesser but well-known characters in tailored suits were examples of devoted public servants. Those are the folks, among others, who completely deregulated the financial industries, which were laid waste for plundering by every huckster and profiteer in the business and in successive administrations. Does anyone really expect us to believe that the whopping surplus amassed during the Clinton Administration would not be a temptation for the taking by the incoming administration of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, the Neocons and their dreams of empire. They had to have known that their assault on the integrity of our financial institutions, coupled with a massive federal surplus would be like putting candy before a baby to those who would succeed them in 2000. To conclude otherwise defies all rudimentary logic. What we will never know is to what extent all of those partners in crime profited from their schemes and the resultant paralysis inflicted on the nation for decades to come. I would not wish to suggest anything other than good networking, but I do find it rather coincidental that Chelsea Clinton is now a Hedge Fund Manager.
The fact that most of those same players have so readily moved into the Obama White House in order to play an active role in the current administration. In concert, they further deprive the nation of the very lifeblood required in order to maintain a healthy economy and a decent standard of living for every American, all of which gives pause to the most trusting of people. I believe there is cause for concern. Obama and his minions may choose to call it “Change We Can Believe In,” but I am inclined to think there is more to the depth and extent of those relationships that trumps the welfare of the nation. The prominence of former Clintonites in key positions within the Obama Administration is, I believe, suspect. I don’t see any evidence that would suggest the nation and its people are better off because of those unholy alliances. Who is the real leader and who are the real power brokers? The closeness of that particular clique reminds me of an observation attributed to an old hillbilly – “Vice is nice but incest is best!”
In the final analysis, the conduct of Bill Clinton and his venue for his escapades is, at the very least, salacious. He not only disgraced himself and the office he held, but he shamed himself before the American people and, indeed, the world. That is history and no amount of image polishing will ever change that.
Now, let’s look into the matter of the other political notable who found himself in a maelstrom created by his sexual appetite and the manner in which he chose to deal with it. Because of the arena in which he served, he has generated his share of controversy. It is not for me to judge the man but what he did was, without question, beyond the bounds of decency. However, how he chose to address and deal with the matter suggests a person of infinitely stronger character than Mr. Clinton.
To my knowledge, Eliot Spitzer never hit on members of his staff and he never used the facilities of the offices he held for immoral purposes. What he did was done outside his official positions and the offices he held. He was by all accounts a dedicated public servant, with sterling credentials with a track record of diligence and integrity. He is considered to be one of the best Attorneys General in the History of New York and he conducted himself as Governor with dignity and strength of purpose.
Eliot Spitzer has accepted full responsibility for his conduct. When I recently saw him interviewed on television he was asked about his extra-marital affairs. He never sidestepped the issue, but stated, unequivocally, that what he did was wrong, but it was a private matter that was being addressed by him and his wife. He said it was a personal issue between the two of them and he would not discuss it further. I don’t think he could have been more forthcoming than that. I trust the man.
Eliot Spitzer is probably one of the most competent and effective political figures to hit the national stage in a very long time. He is an unusually bright, energetic and dedicated man in his professional pursuits, and he has maintained an impeccable public image since he resigned as Governor of New York. He has all the qualifications, experience and stature to be a strong and effective leader of national prominence. He has proven to be tenacious and determined in his professional and political life.
I would hope that a new political party could be created that would offer this nation what it needs in order to clean up the corruption and self-serving milieu within our Federal Government. But I am not confident there is the will or the time necessary to make that happen. Short of that, however, I do believe that Barack Obama should be challenged for a second term as President of the United States. He has failed the tests that would convince me he is a leader and a man of personal integrity. He has not been true to his party, to the people of this country and to the promises he made when he campaigned for election in 2008.
If Obama’s nomination for a second term were to be challenged, I would put my money on Eliot Spitzer to salvage our government, restore its ideals and principles, and return it to its rightful owners --- the citizens of the United States of America.
To paraphrase an old Native American, “Oh, Great Spirit, keep me from ever judging a man until I have walked a mile in his moccasins.”
Eliot Spitzer deserves a second chance.
Cowboy Bob
aka The Sagebrush Philosopher
September 13, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
"Our Growing Epidemic of Arrogance"
As I reflect on the demise of our country and all that it once stood for, I am struck by what appears to be an epidemic that has evolved over a very long period of time. It is pervasive and invasive in every facet of our society and our lives. It is the “arrogance of power.” It is the arrogance of political, economic and social power. It is particularly virulent in the centers of power that determine, advocate and nurture the so-called “values” by which we live. It is the power that has eroded the essence of what should be emulated as good and decent within us. It has destroyed the collective “we” in favor of the collective “me.” Everyone has his or her own agenda. We are a collection of very myopic and self-serving people hell-bent on self-destruction in the pursuit of our own self-defined “goals,” however one is inclined to see them.
The institutions that were once there to serve the body politic now have their own constituencies to which they give their allegiance. Serving the people of this country was once the ultimate goal of government, business and commerce. Now people are no longer regarded as living beings worthy of the dignity that was once inherent in that concept. The people have become little more than an abstraction. They count for something, in figurative terms, when specific interests need them in order to realize their goals but, once achieved, they become faceless and irrelevant.
“Arrogance,” has become a club of exclusivity, serving itself and all those they depend on for their survival and prosperity. They have ceased to be subtle. They flaunt their power and privilege before those they plunder and ravage. They have insulated themselves from accountability for their actions and the scorn that follows.
The institutions of government (Executive, Legislative, Judicial and the plethora of government agencies serve themselves. They no longer represent us and act on our behalf. Rather, they unilaterally determine what they deem to be “best” for us and impose their will on us accordingly. Who and what we are, what we want and what we need are no longer relevant.
Wall Street serves itself in the business of making vast sums of money, at our expense, then sequestering their ill-gotten gains in off-shore tax havens and investing them in countries where they can further exploit the human condition to our collective detriment. They flaunt their power, greed and avarice before the very institutions that should be regulating their activities and ensuring they serve the people of this country, as they were once required to do.
Corporate America is no longer discreet in their massive greed and exploitation of those they feed on. They have become masters of marginalizing every threat and challenge to what they have deemed to be legitimate means to their ends. They have bought and own every facet of the “peoples” government that now aids and abets them in their rape and plunder of what little is left of our nation.
The most egregious and threatening of all are those comprising the “Military/Industrial Complex.” The sheer magnitude of the resources they squander and the power they wield over our everyday lives is frightening. The largest share of our national resources go to support their fantasies and dreams of a new order, a new empire and global conquest. They literally control ever aspect of our defense, intelligence and surveillance apparatus. They operate, with the blessings of our civilian institutions of government, under a shroud of secrecy that defies reason. We really have no idea how big they are what they are up to and how they affect the everyday needs of the American people.
Some of the most glaring examples of the gross disparity in how they see themselves vs. what is good for us, are the extreme differences between the perquisites and compensation for our elected government officials in Congress and the White House. It is rather akin to the old adage that says, “Don’t do as I do; do as I say.” They have no compunction about telling us, repeatedly, about how Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other social safety nets are bankrupting the country, but summarily ignore the real causes of our fiscal plight. Is that disparity reality or what they want us to believe? The answer is self-evident, but very few in power are willing to expose truth to the light of day and hold to account those who talk so ably out of both sides of their mouths. If Social Security is truly a public trust, as we are led to believe, then the incumbent resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue should cease and desist from using it as his personal petty cash fund; a precedent so egregiously set by James Earl Carter, and continuing unabated ever since.
At best, all we get is one more lofty speech, followed by secret deals with the very ones who were vilified in the speeches. Obama has been as consistent in that little game as anyone could be. But, we always give him a free pass on his arrogance. Leadership and courage are not in his makeup.
When all three houses of government were in the hands of the Democrats, and some meaningful changes could have been made, rather than leadership and courage, we were overdosed on the merits of “bi-partisanship.” What, I ask you, did we the people, get from that bargain? Damned little, if you ask me. Now, the Democratic leadership is doing its thespian routine to perfection --- the hapless victim. How can any sane and rational person fall for that?
Arrogance is not endemic just to government. Its effects are very much evident in the ranks of the American people themselves. It takes one hell of a lot of effort and determination in order to ferret out truth. It is the stuff of lazy minds to accept beliefs at face value. Sadly, those beliefs are what convince us that our prejudices are noble and righteous. Beliefs are the stuff of zealots. They are predicated on ignorance and emotions, and they are irrational. But, look what they have wrought. We now have a raving bunch of lunatics on the right that tout simplicity and austerity in government, all the while playing the part of the consummate enablers for the oligarchs, the plutocrats and all those who serve them. A two-class society can’t come soon enough for them. As an aside, they always seem to have “God” on their side. Does anyone actually believe that He talks to them?
Then, of course, we have the so-called “Progressives.” Progressives, to my way of thinking, suffer from delusions of moral and intellectual superiority. They are the enlightened ones who never hesitate to take the high ground. Our system of laws, which should be the foundation for our entire system of government, is not to be respected, not to be systematically changed as circumstances dictate, but to be assaulted as the root cause of all the ills that plague us. Laws? Who cares? Just look all of the poor people who are being exploited by the establishment because of them. They will just ignore the law and demand what they see as virtuous, the law be damned.
I cannot help but wonder, as I look at all those claiming to be “Progressives,” but who are some of the most affluent and prominent figures among us, how they are likely to be affected by giving away the store to all of those they have deemed to be put upon by society. Did it ever occur to them that the ills of an illegal and underground workforce, consigned to a subsistence level of existence, are not the fault of the American people? They are the result of a compliant government relaxing the vigilance that was to ensure our national security, so big business and vast wealth could exploit those seeking an ostensibly better life over the abject poverty from which they came. But, guess what, the very social safety nets that belong to the people are fair game for bearing the cost of righting those egregious wrongs. God forbid that anyone would seriously consider raising taxes on the super-rich and corporations where the liability squarely lies! Where is the justice in all this?
Saving the best for last, I now turn my attention to the largest and most powerful instrument of the arrogance of power in our society --- corporate ownership of our news media. Who said that we had a free press that was there to ensure that government was to be, and remain, the watchdog for the people? It has become a massively lucrative business, imbued with the star-worship of celebrities skillfully selling us on the points of view of those of great wealth and power they so readily serve. They have elevated lying to a new art-form. They tell us, not what we should know, but what their masters want us to know. And, we accept it without question.
Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and a whole host of ignoramuses do a yeoman’s job of peddling their questionable truth to all the true believers who desperately want to accept the fact that the sky is falling. On the other hand, the martyrdom of the liberal news media and their faux concern for all the downtrodden is the stuff that feeds into our need to rise up in righteous indignation. In both cases, have you noticed, when one of them steps out of line and ventures into the world of knowledge, truth and challenging the company line, they are cut off at the ankles and sent into exile?
However, there are those who have chosen a career in journalism as an honorable and noble profession, and who honestly try to live up to all that stands for. Theirs is a rocky road at best and often have a tough time surviving. They deserve all the respect and admiration we can give upon them. Thanks to the Internet, there has been a renewal in the pursuit of freedom that once was the hallmark of the trade they so ardently ply. If there is any facet of our society that we should make damned sure remains open and free, it is the Internet. Without it we are doomed to an unenviable fate at the hands of those who profess to be on the side of the people.
Do I hold out hope for the future? I must confess that maintaining a sense of optimism is difficult. Why? Because of the laziness, selfishness and sheer brutality of all the true believers, the zealots of whatever ilk. The people of this country are losing that which rightfully belongs to them, all because of an internalized set of values that supports our perceived sense of entitlement, and the arrogance that is a natural byproduct of the accompanying mindset that has infected every facet of our lives.
We are rather akin to the band of sheep being led to the slaughter and can no longer detect the smell of the blood spilled by those who have gone before them; those who were willing to stand for and defend all that made them great.
Regardless of the ultimate price, as long as I get what I want, who cares?
Cowboy Bob
aka The Sagebrush Philosopher
September 12, 2011
The institutions that were once there to serve the body politic now have their own constituencies to which they give their allegiance. Serving the people of this country was once the ultimate goal of government, business and commerce. Now people are no longer regarded as living beings worthy of the dignity that was once inherent in that concept. The people have become little more than an abstraction. They count for something, in figurative terms, when specific interests need them in order to realize their goals but, once achieved, they become faceless and irrelevant.
“Arrogance,” has become a club of exclusivity, serving itself and all those they depend on for their survival and prosperity. They have ceased to be subtle. They flaunt their power and privilege before those they plunder and ravage. They have insulated themselves from accountability for their actions and the scorn that follows.
The institutions of government (Executive, Legislative, Judicial and the plethora of government agencies serve themselves. They no longer represent us and act on our behalf. Rather, they unilaterally determine what they deem to be “best” for us and impose their will on us accordingly. Who and what we are, what we want and what we need are no longer relevant.
Wall Street serves itself in the business of making vast sums of money, at our expense, then sequestering their ill-gotten gains in off-shore tax havens and investing them in countries where they can further exploit the human condition to our collective detriment. They flaunt their power, greed and avarice before the very institutions that should be regulating their activities and ensuring they serve the people of this country, as they were once required to do.
Corporate America is no longer discreet in their massive greed and exploitation of those they feed on. They have become masters of marginalizing every threat and challenge to what they have deemed to be legitimate means to their ends. They have bought and own every facet of the “peoples” government that now aids and abets them in their rape and plunder of what little is left of our nation.
The most egregious and threatening of all are those comprising the “Military/Industrial Complex.” The sheer magnitude of the resources they squander and the power they wield over our everyday lives is frightening. The largest share of our national resources go to support their fantasies and dreams of a new order, a new empire and global conquest. They literally control ever aspect of our defense, intelligence and surveillance apparatus. They operate, with the blessings of our civilian institutions of government, under a shroud of secrecy that defies reason. We really have no idea how big they are what they are up to and how they affect the everyday needs of the American people.
Some of the most glaring examples of the gross disparity in how they see themselves vs. what is good for us, are the extreme differences between the perquisites and compensation for our elected government officials in Congress and the White House. It is rather akin to the old adage that says, “Don’t do as I do; do as I say.” They have no compunction about telling us, repeatedly, about how Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other social safety nets are bankrupting the country, but summarily ignore the real causes of our fiscal plight. Is that disparity reality or what they want us to believe? The answer is self-evident, but very few in power are willing to expose truth to the light of day and hold to account those who talk so ably out of both sides of their mouths. If Social Security is truly a public trust, as we are led to believe, then the incumbent resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue should cease and desist from using it as his personal petty cash fund; a precedent so egregiously set by James Earl Carter, and continuing unabated ever since.
At best, all we get is one more lofty speech, followed by secret deals with the very ones who were vilified in the speeches. Obama has been as consistent in that little game as anyone could be. But, we always give him a free pass on his arrogance. Leadership and courage are not in his makeup.
When all three houses of government were in the hands of the Democrats, and some meaningful changes could have been made, rather than leadership and courage, we were overdosed on the merits of “bi-partisanship.” What, I ask you, did we the people, get from that bargain? Damned little, if you ask me. Now, the Democratic leadership is doing its thespian routine to perfection --- the hapless victim. How can any sane and rational person fall for that?
Arrogance is not endemic just to government. Its effects are very much evident in the ranks of the American people themselves. It takes one hell of a lot of effort and determination in order to ferret out truth. It is the stuff of lazy minds to accept beliefs at face value. Sadly, those beliefs are what convince us that our prejudices are noble and righteous. Beliefs are the stuff of zealots. They are predicated on ignorance and emotions, and they are irrational. But, look what they have wrought. We now have a raving bunch of lunatics on the right that tout simplicity and austerity in government, all the while playing the part of the consummate enablers for the oligarchs, the plutocrats and all those who serve them. A two-class society can’t come soon enough for them. As an aside, they always seem to have “God” on their side. Does anyone actually believe that He talks to them?
Then, of course, we have the so-called “Progressives.” Progressives, to my way of thinking, suffer from delusions of moral and intellectual superiority. They are the enlightened ones who never hesitate to take the high ground. Our system of laws, which should be the foundation for our entire system of government, is not to be respected, not to be systematically changed as circumstances dictate, but to be assaulted as the root cause of all the ills that plague us. Laws? Who cares? Just look all of the poor people who are being exploited by the establishment because of them. They will just ignore the law and demand what they see as virtuous, the law be damned.
I cannot help but wonder, as I look at all those claiming to be “Progressives,” but who are some of the most affluent and prominent figures among us, how they are likely to be affected by giving away the store to all of those they have deemed to be put upon by society. Did it ever occur to them that the ills of an illegal and underground workforce, consigned to a subsistence level of existence, are not the fault of the American people? They are the result of a compliant government relaxing the vigilance that was to ensure our national security, so big business and vast wealth could exploit those seeking an ostensibly better life over the abject poverty from which they came. But, guess what, the very social safety nets that belong to the people are fair game for bearing the cost of righting those egregious wrongs. God forbid that anyone would seriously consider raising taxes on the super-rich and corporations where the liability squarely lies! Where is the justice in all this?
Saving the best for last, I now turn my attention to the largest and most powerful instrument of the arrogance of power in our society --- corporate ownership of our news media. Who said that we had a free press that was there to ensure that government was to be, and remain, the watchdog for the people? It has become a massively lucrative business, imbued with the star-worship of celebrities skillfully selling us on the points of view of those of great wealth and power they so readily serve. They have elevated lying to a new art-form. They tell us, not what we should know, but what their masters want us to know. And, we accept it without question.
Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and a whole host of ignoramuses do a yeoman’s job of peddling their questionable truth to all the true believers who desperately want to accept the fact that the sky is falling. On the other hand, the martyrdom of the liberal news media and their faux concern for all the downtrodden is the stuff that feeds into our need to rise up in righteous indignation. In both cases, have you noticed, when one of them steps out of line and ventures into the world of knowledge, truth and challenging the company line, they are cut off at the ankles and sent into exile?
However, there are those who have chosen a career in journalism as an honorable and noble profession, and who honestly try to live up to all that stands for. Theirs is a rocky road at best and often have a tough time surviving. They deserve all the respect and admiration we can give upon them. Thanks to the Internet, there has been a renewal in the pursuit of freedom that once was the hallmark of the trade they so ardently ply. If there is any facet of our society that we should make damned sure remains open and free, it is the Internet. Without it we are doomed to an unenviable fate at the hands of those who profess to be on the side of the people.
Do I hold out hope for the future? I must confess that maintaining a sense of optimism is difficult. Why? Because of the laziness, selfishness and sheer brutality of all the true believers, the zealots of whatever ilk. The people of this country are losing that which rightfully belongs to them, all because of an internalized set of values that supports our perceived sense of entitlement, and the arrogance that is a natural byproduct of the accompanying mindset that has infected every facet of our lives.
We are rather akin to the band of sheep being led to the slaughter and can no longer detect the smell of the blood spilled by those who have gone before them; those who were willing to stand for and defend all that made them great.
Regardless of the ultimate price, as long as I get what I want, who cares?
Cowboy Bob
aka The Sagebrush Philosopher
September 12, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
"Meanwhile, Decent People Suffer"
After bearing witness to the endless charade in Washington these last few weeks, I do not hold out much hope that the situation is going to get any better. I look at the incestuous relationship between the various branches of government, compounded by a distinction of the political parties in name only, and the endless fawning of the main stream news media over those who don’t serve, but wield power. It reminds me of a small town social where everyone is trying their damndest to be on their best behavior and follow all of the accepted social norms of the occasion. I ask myself, “What did the Founding Fathers create for us what with all of the phony traditions and protocol the political whores go through in trying to convince us that those institutions in which they serve (or plunder) are somehow so hallowed that one dare not simply be “real.”
I don’t know about you, but all of this “my good friend,” “my esteemed colleague,” “the honorable,” etc., makes me want to flee to the nearest rest room and purge myself of all the sickening malarkey fed to us by what passes for civility and demeanor prescribed by centuries of “tradition,” whatever that is supposed to mean. Does anyone actually believe these parasites on the backside of the national character really give one hoot in hell about each other? Do they have one scintilla of real respect for one another? I rather doubt it. Probably the only constraining force among them is the ever-present fear that if they started spilling the beans about each others “compromises” and the cash tendered by those who have benefitted from them would create a scandal that would rock the entire continent.
But, in the final analysis I believe it does serve one very useful purpose for the benefit of those who elected them to office and now suffer, and at their total lack of regard for those who put them in the “Marble City on the Potomac.” We have become lulled into a false sense of believing that they really are ladies and gentlemen who give a damn about those they are sworn to serve.
All one has to do is scratch the surface of this ceremonial theater before we are overcome with the noxious fumes of what really lies behind it all. It is a total fraud put on as a ploy to convince us that we really did exercise good judgment by putting them in the seat of power to represent us and act with our best interests at heart. Give me a break!
As much reverence as we show for it all in the name of our “heritage,” I find the parliamentary system of government to be much more transparent and far more authentic than what we see in Washington. Have you noticed how they stand up across the aisle from each other and really duke it out? Have you noticed how they manifest real anger and disdain for their adversaries? Have you noticed how they get red in the face and show their contempt for what they perceive to be an affront or a disingenuous act? Now, that is what I call real political theater and something that gets my attention. I have a healthy respect for those moments. None of this, “my good friend” crap. At the end of the day it really is a superior system.
Despite what appears to be an ingrained need among us to revere all that the Founding Fathers put together as a blue print for governing this nation, I don’t think they did a very good job. Just look at the history of the Senate, the Congress, the Presidency, the Supreme Court and the cadre of those comprising the massive bureaucracy that serve their ambitions and, we are led to believe, are there to serve the people of the United States of America. There isn’t one of those institutions that have not been compromised by their greasy palms and blind ambition. And, as much respect as I have for real, authentic journalists and an independent news media, one cannot overlook how corporate news aids and abets all they bring down our on our heads as they seek to “govern,” however one cares to define that term. If it isn’t a very unhealthy symbiotic relationship, I will put in with you.
Are we really better off with politics rather than statesmanship? Are we really better off with hoards of “lobbyists” that somehow resemble cockroaches scurrying about in the shadows and into the cracks as they ply their evil agendas at the expense of those who put their benefactors into office, and who pay the monumental bills that keeps the whole thing afloat. Are we really better off when those who are supposed to be regulated by those who are elected to serve when, at the end of the day, they write the very regulations that are supposed to keep them honest? Are we better off, as a people, when those very same interests reduce this nation of good and decent people to the subsistence level while they feed off the very flesh of those who only want an honest shake and their rightful share of the American Dream? Are we really better off as we continue our obsolete and over-bloated sense of empire, committing those who can’t find a decent job at home to the perils of life in a war zone?
Just step back for a moment and contemplate the political and social rubble that has become the landscape of America. We have a resident in the White House who has only one redeeming talent. He consistently goes out, gives a mesmerizing speech, goes back to Washington and sequesters himself behind closed doors with the very ones he has been railing against on the stump. That has been his modus operandi from the day he took the Oath of Office. Let us not lose sight of the fact that he is the product of one of the oldest and most corrupt political machines in our history. Chicago politics are not for the faint of heart or the soul of decency.
We don’t have two distinct political parties. Instead we have a collection of rather sullied characters all feeding from the same troughs of corruption and scratching the backs of all those to whom they have given their allegiance. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see that big money, big business and powerful vested interests dictate and control out destiny. As an added measure of assurance, the Supreme Court is there to make sure their interests, not ours, are served by what we euphemistically refer to as “government.”
The loudest and most consistent mantra of the day is “where are the jobs?” Well, we certainly can’t credit the Republicans for doing much about that, can we? Yet, neither can we trust those Democrats, going back to the Clinton Administration, with doing much to support and encourage a healthy Middle Class. After all, they are the very ones, who have championed, and still champion, the whole notion of “free trade agreements,” which translates into the systemic bleeding of those comprising the very backbone of this country. They are the ones who sit on their hands and do absolutely nothing to draw a line in the sand and call out China for the gross disparity in the terms of trade between our two countries.
It is Bill Clinton who set the stage for the complete deregulation of the financial institutions that have brought this country to its knees. If that were not enough, we have had the comfort of sitting on the sidelines as Barack Obama has imported all of his key Cabinet positions and White House Staff from the former Clinton Administration. You don’t have to be very astute to see how this country and its citizens have benefitted from that exercise in “continuity.” Ask Elizabeth Warren.
Folks, we are in deep doo-doo. No amount of attempts to assuage the reality of our situation will change things for the better. The states are crumbling under the burden of debt they carry and their inability to garner enough resources in order to provide basic public services necessary for a civilized society. It is time we stopped deluding ourselves into believing that all those tantalizing and titillating hedonistic and materialistic pleasures are really there for us to savor. It is an illusion that seduces us into believing that, if we will just be patient, Nirvana awaits.
For all the pleasures held out to us, there is nothing that makes a person feel better than having done something kind for one of his fellow human beings. That is the higher calling we must shift our focus on. It will make us a better people and a better nation.
At the head of every human endeavor that changes history for the better is real leadership. We haven’t seen that in so long it is hard to conceptualize what it really means. Politics, as it is practiced today is the antithesis of any sense of a noble human endeavor. Statesmanship and leadership creates and nourishes hope and the promise of a better future. We need someone who has those qualities to step out of the shadows and commit to restoring this country to what it once was and can surely be again. Those lost virtues of honesty and integrity that have served as the foundation of a government we can truly believe in are not lost, only forgotten.
The motley collections of individuals who have come to Washington and now hold this nation hostage are pathetic in their ignorance and ominous in their zealousness. They, and those who follow them, are incapable of original thought. They are believers without knowing what and why they believe. They are pathetic, but dangerous. They seek a quick fix and simple solutions to every dilemma we face. They are the followers of the Koch Brothers and those of the same ilk whose greed will see them to the end of the only life they will ever know and their wanton destruction of everything in their path, including this country. Those who march with them are reminiscent of those who keep feeding the alligators hoping they will eat them last. Meanwhile decent people suffer.
Real leadership and a calling to a higher purpose are gifts for which there is no price. They are rewards in and of themselves. But Bernie Sanders, and the valiant and dedicated few like him, can’t do it all. I sincerely hope there is an inspired leader in the making who will hear the clarion call and say, ‘Now is the time; and I am ready.”
Cowboy Bob
The Sagebrush Philosopher
August 7, 2011
I don’t know about you, but all of this “my good friend,” “my esteemed colleague,” “the honorable,” etc., makes me want to flee to the nearest rest room and purge myself of all the sickening malarkey fed to us by what passes for civility and demeanor prescribed by centuries of “tradition,” whatever that is supposed to mean. Does anyone actually believe these parasites on the backside of the national character really give one hoot in hell about each other? Do they have one scintilla of real respect for one another? I rather doubt it. Probably the only constraining force among them is the ever-present fear that if they started spilling the beans about each others “compromises” and the cash tendered by those who have benefitted from them would create a scandal that would rock the entire continent.
But, in the final analysis I believe it does serve one very useful purpose for the benefit of those who elected them to office and now suffer, and at their total lack of regard for those who put them in the “Marble City on the Potomac.” We have become lulled into a false sense of believing that they really are ladies and gentlemen who give a damn about those they are sworn to serve.
All one has to do is scratch the surface of this ceremonial theater before we are overcome with the noxious fumes of what really lies behind it all. It is a total fraud put on as a ploy to convince us that we really did exercise good judgment by putting them in the seat of power to represent us and act with our best interests at heart. Give me a break!
As much reverence as we show for it all in the name of our “heritage,” I find the parliamentary system of government to be much more transparent and far more authentic than what we see in Washington. Have you noticed how they stand up across the aisle from each other and really duke it out? Have you noticed how they manifest real anger and disdain for their adversaries? Have you noticed how they get red in the face and show their contempt for what they perceive to be an affront or a disingenuous act? Now, that is what I call real political theater and something that gets my attention. I have a healthy respect for those moments. None of this, “my good friend” crap. At the end of the day it really is a superior system.
Despite what appears to be an ingrained need among us to revere all that the Founding Fathers put together as a blue print for governing this nation, I don’t think they did a very good job. Just look at the history of the Senate, the Congress, the Presidency, the Supreme Court and the cadre of those comprising the massive bureaucracy that serve their ambitions and, we are led to believe, are there to serve the people of the United States of America. There isn’t one of those institutions that have not been compromised by their greasy palms and blind ambition. And, as much respect as I have for real, authentic journalists and an independent news media, one cannot overlook how corporate news aids and abets all they bring down our on our heads as they seek to “govern,” however one cares to define that term. If it isn’t a very unhealthy symbiotic relationship, I will put in with you.
Are we really better off with politics rather than statesmanship? Are we really better off with hoards of “lobbyists” that somehow resemble cockroaches scurrying about in the shadows and into the cracks as they ply their evil agendas at the expense of those who put their benefactors into office, and who pay the monumental bills that keeps the whole thing afloat. Are we really better off when those who are supposed to be regulated by those who are elected to serve when, at the end of the day, they write the very regulations that are supposed to keep them honest? Are we better off, as a people, when those very same interests reduce this nation of good and decent people to the subsistence level while they feed off the very flesh of those who only want an honest shake and their rightful share of the American Dream? Are we really better off as we continue our obsolete and over-bloated sense of empire, committing those who can’t find a decent job at home to the perils of life in a war zone?
Just step back for a moment and contemplate the political and social rubble that has become the landscape of America. We have a resident in the White House who has only one redeeming talent. He consistently goes out, gives a mesmerizing speech, goes back to Washington and sequesters himself behind closed doors with the very ones he has been railing against on the stump. That has been his modus operandi from the day he took the Oath of Office. Let us not lose sight of the fact that he is the product of one of the oldest and most corrupt political machines in our history. Chicago politics are not for the faint of heart or the soul of decency.
We don’t have two distinct political parties. Instead we have a collection of rather sullied characters all feeding from the same troughs of corruption and scratching the backs of all those to whom they have given their allegiance. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see that big money, big business and powerful vested interests dictate and control out destiny. As an added measure of assurance, the Supreme Court is there to make sure their interests, not ours, are served by what we euphemistically refer to as “government.”
The loudest and most consistent mantra of the day is “where are the jobs?” Well, we certainly can’t credit the Republicans for doing much about that, can we? Yet, neither can we trust those Democrats, going back to the Clinton Administration, with doing much to support and encourage a healthy Middle Class. After all, they are the very ones, who have championed, and still champion, the whole notion of “free trade agreements,” which translates into the systemic bleeding of those comprising the very backbone of this country. They are the ones who sit on their hands and do absolutely nothing to draw a line in the sand and call out China for the gross disparity in the terms of trade between our two countries.
It is Bill Clinton who set the stage for the complete deregulation of the financial institutions that have brought this country to its knees. If that were not enough, we have had the comfort of sitting on the sidelines as Barack Obama has imported all of his key Cabinet positions and White House Staff from the former Clinton Administration. You don’t have to be very astute to see how this country and its citizens have benefitted from that exercise in “continuity.” Ask Elizabeth Warren.
Folks, we are in deep doo-doo. No amount of attempts to assuage the reality of our situation will change things for the better. The states are crumbling under the burden of debt they carry and their inability to garner enough resources in order to provide basic public services necessary for a civilized society. It is time we stopped deluding ourselves into believing that all those tantalizing and titillating hedonistic and materialistic pleasures are really there for us to savor. It is an illusion that seduces us into believing that, if we will just be patient, Nirvana awaits.
For all the pleasures held out to us, there is nothing that makes a person feel better than having done something kind for one of his fellow human beings. That is the higher calling we must shift our focus on. It will make us a better people and a better nation.
At the head of every human endeavor that changes history for the better is real leadership. We haven’t seen that in so long it is hard to conceptualize what it really means. Politics, as it is practiced today is the antithesis of any sense of a noble human endeavor. Statesmanship and leadership creates and nourishes hope and the promise of a better future. We need someone who has those qualities to step out of the shadows and commit to restoring this country to what it once was and can surely be again. Those lost virtues of honesty and integrity that have served as the foundation of a government we can truly believe in are not lost, only forgotten.
The motley collections of individuals who have come to Washington and now hold this nation hostage are pathetic in their ignorance and ominous in their zealousness. They, and those who follow them, are incapable of original thought. They are believers without knowing what and why they believe. They are pathetic, but dangerous. They seek a quick fix and simple solutions to every dilemma we face. They are the followers of the Koch Brothers and those of the same ilk whose greed will see them to the end of the only life they will ever know and their wanton destruction of everything in their path, including this country. Those who march with them are reminiscent of those who keep feeding the alligators hoping they will eat them last. Meanwhile decent people suffer.
Real leadership and a calling to a higher purpose are gifts for which there is no price. They are rewards in and of themselves. But Bernie Sanders, and the valiant and dedicated few like him, can’t do it all. I sincerely hope there is an inspired leader in the making who will hear the clarion call and say, ‘Now is the time; and I am ready.”
Cowboy Bob
The Sagebrush Philosopher
August 7, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
"He's At It Again!"
Our Wonder Boy in the White House is preparing to stick it to the people of the United States of America yet again. But, what else is new? This guy is infamous for consistently making promises he has no intention of honoring. He seduces us with eloquent speeches and hollow words, then immediately sequesters himself with his professed adversaries and strikes a deal that pulls the rug out from under us. He is about to do it again on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, soon to be followed by Free Trade Agreements with Korea, Columbia and Panama. Those who stand to lose on the deals are the Middle Class and Working Americans. Those who stand to profit (handsomely) from those deals are big business, moneyed interests and corrupt government officials.
Obama’s betrayal of the American people is there for all to see. They go back to the beginning of his presidency and have continued, unabated, ever since. Every program in which he has been involved and that has been enacted during his administration, ostensibly to benefit the average American, can be found to have served moneyed interests and big business, enabling them to rake in even greater profits than they had enjoyed before. I don’t need to list them here. They are easily researched and speak for themselves to those who have an interest in verifying the veracity of my words.
The term “conspiracy theorist” seems to strike terror in the hearts of those who want to believe the best about every person and institution that is there to serve us. I would like to believe that, as well. Somehow it is pretty to think so. However, when we begin to fall into that trap I believe we are setting ourselves up for exploitation by a system that is so corrupt that I seriously doubt we will see any discernable improvement for sometime to come.
Do you recall when Barack Obama made his first national appearance at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and gave the Keynote Address? He was virtually unknown at that point in time. Who was he and were did he come from? Was it just a twist of fate or was this guy known to all the right people in a position to give him the instant recognition that so many of those aspiring to fame and fortune covet? My take? I don’t think there was anything fortuitous about it at all.
The economic and social juggernaut that has come down on our collective heads is, I am convinced, no random chain of events. Rather, I believe it has been well orchestrated and has been coming for a very long time. Obama was, I believe, the poster child for the forces behind what has led us to where we are today. When he finished that grand speech in 2004 I honestly believe that those he has sworn to serve were more than pleasantly surprised. They were ecstatic. They had found their boy who would ride their white stallion onto the national scene and champion their causes wherever and whenever needed, all in the guise of being true to the common man. “Change we can believe in!” Little did we know what that change was to entail and the price the average American would pay for it! Safe to say, he sure as hell isn’t one of us! Wall Street, former Clintonites, Defense, Big Business, Lobbyists, our corrupt political system, the Oligarchs and all of the others of a similar stripe found their front man. Here was the guy who could charm the socks off us while, at the same time, sticking it to us in spades. And we believed he was the real deal! Even Oprah, crying tears as big as horse turds, was crying her eyes out in jubilation as she and millions of others watched their newfound Emperor ascend to the seat of power. I, naively, was one of them. We have been paying the supreme price ever since and it is only getting worse.
The sheer power of big money isn’t even subtle since he came to office. The Supreme Court is probably as close to the old Supreme Soviets as one could find today. And they carry on their despicable actions with nary an attempt to be the least bit discreet about it. Just look at the carnage that has been wrought against the working people of Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, New Jersey and Maine, with other fertile fields of conquest just waiting for others of their ilk to lay waste in the name of “free enterprise,” and “small government,” often wrapped in the cloth of the Almighty as if there were something divinely inspired and sanctioned by the Diety itself. What rational mind could even remotely believe one word of all that crap? You would have to be certifiably insane to even entertain the possibility of finding a modicum of truth to all the lies and other methods they bring to bear in order to justify and sell their grand deception to an unsuspecting public.
I still cling to the notion that the only way we can restore integrity to our democracy and return power to the people is through the avenue of a new political party with a massive agenda and an iron will to make it all happen. Time is against me for engaging in such an ambitious endeavor, but my pleas to those who may have what it takes to help pull it off appear to have fallen on deaf ears. We have no heroes anymore. There are no statesmen and stateswomen who have that fire-in-the-belly determination to say to themselves and to others, “We can and we will make a difference. I will give my all to making it happen if you will but support and follow me.” I want to believe there are some out there who have the will, but I fear they are few in number and, perhaps, things have to get even worse before the spark is ignited that will make it happen. Until then, about all we can do is keep hope alive, and raise hell wherever and whenever we must in order to keep the breath of life burning in our very souls that silently speaks to us, “Yes, we can!”
Cowboy Bob
July 19, 2011
Obama’s betrayal of the American people is there for all to see. They go back to the beginning of his presidency and have continued, unabated, ever since. Every program in which he has been involved and that has been enacted during his administration, ostensibly to benefit the average American, can be found to have served moneyed interests and big business, enabling them to rake in even greater profits than they had enjoyed before. I don’t need to list them here. They are easily researched and speak for themselves to those who have an interest in verifying the veracity of my words.
The term “conspiracy theorist” seems to strike terror in the hearts of those who want to believe the best about every person and institution that is there to serve us. I would like to believe that, as well. Somehow it is pretty to think so. However, when we begin to fall into that trap I believe we are setting ourselves up for exploitation by a system that is so corrupt that I seriously doubt we will see any discernable improvement for sometime to come.
Do you recall when Barack Obama made his first national appearance at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and gave the Keynote Address? He was virtually unknown at that point in time. Who was he and were did he come from? Was it just a twist of fate or was this guy known to all the right people in a position to give him the instant recognition that so many of those aspiring to fame and fortune covet? My take? I don’t think there was anything fortuitous about it at all.
The economic and social juggernaut that has come down on our collective heads is, I am convinced, no random chain of events. Rather, I believe it has been well orchestrated and has been coming for a very long time. Obama was, I believe, the poster child for the forces behind what has led us to where we are today. When he finished that grand speech in 2004 I honestly believe that those he has sworn to serve were more than pleasantly surprised. They were ecstatic. They had found their boy who would ride their white stallion onto the national scene and champion their causes wherever and whenever needed, all in the guise of being true to the common man. “Change we can believe in!” Little did we know what that change was to entail and the price the average American would pay for it! Safe to say, he sure as hell isn’t one of us! Wall Street, former Clintonites, Defense, Big Business, Lobbyists, our corrupt political system, the Oligarchs and all of the others of a similar stripe found their front man. Here was the guy who could charm the socks off us while, at the same time, sticking it to us in spades. And we believed he was the real deal! Even Oprah, crying tears as big as horse turds, was crying her eyes out in jubilation as she and millions of others watched their newfound Emperor ascend to the seat of power. I, naively, was one of them. We have been paying the supreme price ever since and it is only getting worse.
The sheer power of big money isn’t even subtle since he came to office. The Supreme Court is probably as close to the old Supreme Soviets as one could find today. And they carry on their despicable actions with nary an attempt to be the least bit discreet about it. Just look at the carnage that has been wrought against the working people of Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, New Jersey and Maine, with other fertile fields of conquest just waiting for others of their ilk to lay waste in the name of “free enterprise,” and “small government,” often wrapped in the cloth of the Almighty as if there were something divinely inspired and sanctioned by the Diety itself. What rational mind could even remotely believe one word of all that crap? You would have to be certifiably insane to even entertain the possibility of finding a modicum of truth to all the lies and other methods they bring to bear in order to justify and sell their grand deception to an unsuspecting public.
I still cling to the notion that the only way we can restore integrity to our democracy and return power to the people is through the avenue of a new political party with a massive agenda and an iron will to make it all happen. Time is against me for engaging in such an ambitious endeavor, but my pleas to those who may have what it takes to help pull it off appear to have fallen on deaf ears. We have no heroes anymore. There are no statesmen and stateswomen who have that fire-in-the-belly determination to say to themselves and to others, “We can and we will make a difference. I will give my all to making it happen if you will but support and follow me.” I want to believe there are some out there who have the will, but I fear they are few in number and, perhaps, things have to get even worse before the spark is ignited that will make it happen. Until then, about all we can do is keep hope alive, and raise hell wherever and whenever we must in order to keep the breath of life burning in our very souls that silently speaks to us, “Yes, we can!”
Cowboy Bob
July 19, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
"A National Crisis That Can No Longer Be Ignored"
I believe the United States of America stands on the brink of the greatest economic and social catastrophes in its history. It is time to stop whistling past the graveyard, stop the circus that keeps swirling around our heads called “politics,” and demonstrate the courage to effect bold changes that will accrue to the benefit of the vast majority, and restore confidence and trust between us and the country of which we are a part. Nothing less than bold and decisive action will do the trick; and has to begin soon.
Since the so-called “recession,” came down on our collective heads we have been witness to the “blame game” in all its glory and in all its manifestations. Lying, once a serious character flaw, has become commonplace almost to the level of a new art form. It has become an accepted means of survival in today’s world of government, business and commerce. We are no longer shocked by its use or its efficacy.
As I have watched the progression of events that seem to be taking us deeper into the morass of financial and social ruin, I have tried to distill from the sweeping malaise and growing sense of hopelessness just what it was that set this national nightmare in motion. I have concluded that nothing can happen to us that we don’t allow. In the final analysis, we the people bear the burden of this sad state of affairs because of our complacency and the willingness to allow others to determine our national priorities and the values that govern our everyday lives. Over the course of a very long time, there has been a gradual reversal in the relationship between the government and the governed. We no longer seem to have a common set of values that enable us to come together as one people and to work for the common good. Our moral base is in tatters. It no longer guides us in the conduct of our daily lives. Where we used to be one people with one purpose, we are now a collection of individuals who seem totally preoccupied with the satisfaction of every materialistic and hedonistic appetite imaginable. As long as I get mine, I really don’t give a damn whether or not you get yours. If I have to destroy and consume you in the process, so be it.
We have turned into a bunch of humanoids and automatons that no longer seem to be the least bit concerned about the other person and his/her welfare. We now have, as adults, the second generation of “spoiled brats” that come from the era of the child-centered home that spawned a sense of entitlement, which, in turn, has become the epitome of personal selfishness. Individual responsibility and discipline have been trumped by personal pleasure and the consumption of consumer goods. We have mortgaged our future in the pursuit of obtaining far more than we need and we still feel deprived in the midst of it all. We no longer define our own needs and wants. We have abdicated that responsibility to the marketing departments of big business, the creative departments of the entertainment industries and the programming departments of news organizations.
I don’t think we really know who and what we are anymore. We no longer question the motives of those who lead us. We believe they are acting with our best interests in mind. We simply accept what is peddled because it just takes too much time and effort to pause and attempt to ascertain what lies behind the sales pitch. Complacency is a terminal illness.
What happened to our sense of decency? Are we shocked and outraged by anything anymore? Are we sinking so far into the mire that we have become the product of our basest biological needs at the expense of those aspects of our nature that set us apart from animals lower on the food chain? Is erectile dysfunction really a national epidemic or is it a ploy to create a demand for prescription drugs that few really need? Is showing female cleavage really a fashion statement that elevates us to the next higher rung on the ladder of human evolution? Has the advent of electronic devices used for the purpose of entertainment, communication and social interaction really resulted in raising the human race to a higher position on the pecking order of living beings? When we no longer socialize with each other, no longer talk to each other, no longer care about each other and no longer help each other, what have we become? Animals? Is it just another manifestation of Darwin’s “survival of the fittest?”
At the end of the day, we can play the blame game until hell freezes over, but we have created the fertile ground for every vile and evil force within the fabric of the human condition in order to grow and prosper at our individual and collective expense. We have been had, big time. Why, then, do we continue to give legitimacy to the very forces that are destroying us and all that we hold near and dear to our hearts? Does any sane person really believe that the two political parties and the fringe element created by them have our best interests in mind? Does anyone really believe they are moved by anything other than ulterior motives to advance their insatiable greed and rapacious conquest of our very humanity? Does anyone really take seriously all the manifestations of that ignorant and simplistic philosophy?
We need to go back to square one and define what a real alternative to the mainstream political parties would look like and stand for. I have concluded that we no longer have genuine role models we can emulate and who can appeal to the finer angels within us. I have no doubts that they are there, just waiting to be rekindled to inspire us all to the greatness we once were and can surely be again. The bedrock has to be laid for a renaissance of the virtues that set us apart from the beasts of the jungle. We need leadership that reflects back to us all that we can aspire to despite our own individual shortcomings. They walk among us and, with the right stimulus could be roused to come to our aid and restore all that is good and decent among the people of this country. However, it has to start with ideals and leadership that reflect those ideals.
The hallmark of such an undertaking must be “equality, with fairness and justice for all.” Any such effort must be upfront and forthright about all it stands for and the objectives it will pursue on behalf of the people of this country, not special interests. It must be based on solid bedrocks of honesty and integrity. The aura of omnipotence that has surrounded our government and those who comprise it must be shattered. For far too long, that mystique has served them extremely well at the expense and peril of the American people. There must be a resolve to rout out corruption, conflicts of interest and self-serving practices. The shroud of secrecy that envelopes so much of what goes on in the name of “the people’s business,” must be lifted. Transparency and exposure to the light of day must be the norm, not the exception. Some things that come to mind are ----
1. Commercial institutions must be regulated so they render service to the people. There has to be an end to self-serving practices much of which lie at the root of all that has happened to the social and economic structure of this country since 2008. “Too big to fail” is an anomaly to good business practices and the responsible conduct of business affairs.
2. The closed loop of authority held by government officials must be broken. It is utterly inconceivable in this modern age that elected officials can unilaterally determine their levels of compensation, the perquisites they enjoy and the benefit of lavish healthcare and retirement programs after having served only one term in office. There should be no opportunity for that to occur without the expressed consent of the governed by a referendum of the voters. I find it incredulous that one can go to Washington a pauper and come home a millionaire. Is this what has so shamelessly been asked of working people to support?
3. Private money, in all its forms, must be purged from the conduct of government affairs. Campaign finance reform is imperative.
4. Term limits need to be considered for every elected office in order to prevent the accumulation of power and “squatter’s rights” at the expense of the electorate.
5. The Tax Code needs to be massively reformed in order to simplify the process and to make the system fair and equitable for all taxpayers.
6. Somewhere within the vast labyrinths of government there must be an office the sole purpose of which is to determine and ensure an “arms length relationship” between all parties to government bids and procurement contracts. Objectivity and the absence of opportunities for collusion must prevail between contract negotiations, procurement and compensation for goods and services. Individual branches of government should not be allowed to unilaterally engage in such practices lest they occur at the expense of the people.
7. All government property rightfully belongs to the people. No government property should be bought, sold or leased by government officials without the expressed consent of the voters by means of the public referendum.
8. There should be no provision for “private” and/or secret meetings between elected officials and special interests. All such meetings should be open and properly documented for the record. “Special deals” have cost this country dearly and have contributed to the creation of centers of informal power and questionable practices that may have bordered on criminal conduct. There is no legitimate reason for such behavior, except in cases of national security, in which case there should be a sunset provision up front, for eventually de-classifying the records of such meetings.
9. No subsidies should be allowed for industries doing business with the government. If the free market system is to work effectively, as we have been led to believe, then let the investment of resources and the acumen of those business leaders prevail at their own peril. The taxpayers have been held hostage to this bribery long enough.
10. The revolving door between government service and service as a lobbyist must be stopped. Clearly, a blatant conflict of interest serves no useful purpose that accrues to the benefit of the citizens of this country. Where a professional assessment or study of an issue is needed, then let the government go to outside, objective sources for the knowledge and expertise required to advise them on the merits of any given issue. Our colleges and universities are replete with a wellspring of minds and talent that no single or group of politicians can equal. They are free of the constraints that exist within the Beltway. No personal stake in the game. No special deals, just sound knowledge and good judgment.
11. And last, but certainly not least, we must abolish corporate ownership of our news media. The Founding Fathers envisioned a free and unfettered press to keep the system honest. Only by shedding the shackles of the corporate mindset and the massive amounts of money at their disposal, will we restore that ideal and the safeguards to our system of government.
This list could go on, but I think I have made my point. This is not rocket science. There is nothing that ails our government that a good CPA and a Business Lawyer couldn’t remedy. That this and much more could be written is all well and good. However, nothing of a positive and lasting nature can result until we accept nothing less than absolute honesty and integrity in government by those elected to serve us. The standards that apply to one must apply to all. Meaningful standards can only be the result of reasoned and sane minds. Screaming lunatics spouting the wrath of god and the trite solutions to all that ails us just won’t do the trick. Credibility is totally alien to all they espouse. They are demagogues using religious zeal in which to wrap their perverse goals in the cloth of respectability. The only thing they will do for us is a further erosion of our ideals.
Any real effort to bring a new political party to life must clearly and unequivocally state exactly what their agenda is and how they expect to realize its fulfillment. Latitudes and platitudes just won’t cut it. Vague, nonspecific rhetoric can no longer be the order of the day. Surely, we have had enough of that to last us for a very long time. However, let us not delude ourselves into believing the change we need will come easily or quickly. Make no mistake about it. It is going to be a labor of love, the only reward for which is hard work and the satisfaction of knowing the country is a little bit better because of their commitment to higher ideals.
I just don’t see how we can put off serious consideration of a real governing alternative in the form of a completely new political party, free of the encumbrances of those who have had “squatter’s rights” on our government for far too long. The “old boys club” must give way to “servants of the people and for the public interest.” Service must be seen as a badge of honor and pride, not an opportunity to engage in the wholesale plundering of the nation’s treasury and indentured servitude to every special interest seeking to profit at our expense.
Where do we begin and how do we start? I would begin by convening a group of people of like mind for the expressed purpose of laying the groundwork for the party. That group must, of necessity, be in an age group where ideals are seen as within their grasp. They must have that fire-in-the-belly that other greats have manifested in the heyday of their careers. They must do the work of giving birth to a new political party, nurturing it to maturity and giving it a lasting life on the American political scene. They must believe it can set this country on a new and lasting course for the benefit of all the people in this republic.
I mean this with absolutely no respect. There is a nucleus of mature people whose hearts and minds are kindred spirits to any such endeavor. They have grown and evolved into what I regard as the great sages of our time. However, it is simply a fact that, as people rise in prominence and affluence, they become a part of a social stratum that is more staid and less revolutionary. That doesn’t, however, mean they are any less willing to share their experience and wisdom with a younger generation wanting to make the radical changes we so desperately need.
Permit me to engage in a bit of name-dropping:
Bill Moyers is one of the pre-eminent journalists and intellectuals of our time. I would be surprised if he wouldn't gladly share the benefit of his knowledge, experience and wisdom with any viable group of dedicated individuals seeking to make this country better. His contacts, alone, would be an invaluable reservoir of helpful information.
David Stockman, former Budget Director in the Reagan Administration probably has a better grasp on the sorry state of our economy and the institutions that comprise it than any other person in the business.
Jonathan Turley on the staff of Georgetown University is probably one of the best constitutional lawyers around.
Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman are both Nobel Laureates in the field of economics. Robert Reich is well schooled and highly respected in economics and public policy.
Elizabeth Warren would be an excellent source of knowledge in terms of consumer protection policies.
Brooksley Born is probably the most knowledgeable person in the world when it comes to the regulation of derivatives and hedge funds.
Madeline Albright has excellent experience in international affairs and foreign policy.
Wesley Clark would be able to provide some valuable insights into issues pertaining to the military establishment and ways in which the relationship between the military, the intelligence apparatus and the political system could be improved.
Russ Feingold, former Senator from Wisconsin, would be the one to help in revamping campaign finance laws and practices.
Bernie Sanders would be an invaluable resource for advice in creating a party that is more responsive to the electorate and the needs of the country.
Peter Morici would be an excellent resource person in matters pertaining to international trade and monetary policy.
Ed Rendell, former Governor of Pennsylvania would be an excellent resource in forming a new political party.
Alan Grayson, former Congressman from Florida is a real firebrand and would be a great influence in the formation of a new political party.
Eliot Spitzer would be an outstanding resource person on government regulation.
Chuck Hagel is, in my opinion, one of the finest men ever to have served in government. He is the former U.S. Senator from the State of Nebraska, and is currently on the faculty of Georgetown University. He has served this country in the military with distinction and has demonstrated the leadership qualities essential to the political process. In his book, America: Our Next Chapter, he suggests that the United States should adopt independent leadership and possibly another political party.
Keep in mind that I am thinking of people who have the reputation, stature and countenance of real leaders, not politicians or community organizers.
A new political party is simply going to have to begin by committing to a bold set of objectives in order to restore confidence and trust in government as an instrument for all the people.
1. Declare a national fiscal emergency. Break up all the financial institutions that have been deemed “too big to fail.” Re-instate the provisions of the Glass/Steagall Act for the purpose of regulating financial institutions and limiting the scope and power of their activities.
2. Restore the tax brackets that were in effect during the Clinton Administration, preparatory to a massive restructuring of the tax code.
3. Declare a moratorium on the sale or lease of public assets to private interests by elected officials, with a goal of legislating all future actions subject to a referendum of the voters.
4. Preparation of a Constitutional Amendment that will clearly define a “person” as a living human being who is a bonafide citizen of the United States of America. No legal entity or organization can be accorded the same privileges to act on behalf of those rights and privileges that are the exclusive purview of individual citizens.
5. Embark on a serious and comprehensive goal of complete campaign finance reform.
6. Advocate and support a ban on the “revolving door” between government service and working as a lobbyist for special interests. If any branch of government needs the help of experts, then the government should find the means to call on the reservoirs of that expertise by contractual arrangements that are fully transparent.
7. Seek legislation that will prohibit secret meetings by the various branches of government, except in matters of national security. In all such cases, there should be a reasonable sunset provision that would expire and remove the shroud of secrecy, thereafter making the records open to the public.
8. Except in cases that clearly deal with issues of national security, complete transparency must be the order of the day. No more “private” meetings between members of Congress, the President and other agencies of government, with private organizations having a vested interest in the outcome of any legislation or regulation specific to those industries.
9. Embark on a massive study of trade policies and practices with the objective of restoring our national priorities and welfare to the process.
10. Restore fairness and equality to labor laws so those who produce as well as those who invest in the economy share a level playing field. Indentured servitude died with the Dark Ages.
11. Every effort must be made to break up the “military/industrial complex,” so that entire part of our government is transparent and can withstand the light of day.
I believe we need a division within the government that evaluates proposed legislation in order to ensure no process becomes a closed loop. One part of the process cannot be allowed to influence or control any other part. The outcome should be a cost/benefit analysis that clearly establishes the best interests of the people are being served. A sister bureau within the Department of Justice should evaluate what is being done in the name of and on behalf of the electorate so as to preclude any and all self-serving practices and conflicts of interest that may accrue to the detriment of the electorate.
Beyond these few considerations, the party should make a solemn commitment to the voters that the hallmark of everything the party stands for has the objective of restoring accountability and control to the people of this country. The era of exclusivity that has dominated our national politics for far too long must end. A healthy democracy requires no less, which I believe are the underpinnings of what the Founding Fathers intended.
A study by an appropriate mix of constitutional scholars should, I believe, re-examine the intended role and powers of each branch of government against those now in place, with the goal of restoring the balance that served us so well in the past. Democracy is much too precious and too fragile to countenance the coveting of power, privilege, influence and imperial aspirations. At the end of the day, we are and should remain one people, united in our common welfare.
I am asking nothing of you except that you take the time to read what I have written. If you see merit in these words, that you will take the time and effort to share it with others who are in a position to make it happen. Time is not on our side. If real change is to happen, it must start now. Three guiding principles that can make it happen come to mind.
The first is, “Anything is possible as long as no one cares who gets the
credit for it.“
The second is, “The message is more important than the messenger.“
The third is, “There is nothing stronger than a simple belief.“
I do believe we must do something bold, with a strong sense of purpose and a cast iron will to make it happen. It can and must be done.
1. A new political party must have a name that reflects our most noble ideals (“The Egalitarian Party”) It must have a motto that reflects its core objective (“The Voice of America.”)
2. The process must begin with (a) strategic plan, (b) an operational plan, (c) a list of possible candidates who might consider taking up the banner.
3. The hallmark of an initial campaign should be a clear and definitive statement of what the party stands for, what the party intends to address (in rank order of priority) and a time frame for accomplishing those objectives.
4. Do not hesitate to name individuals who will be called upon to join and support this new adventure, and to endorse candidates affiliated with other political parties whose goals are consistent with this political party.
5. Leaders must be squeaky clean and free of scandal. The public must have confidence in “what you see is what you get.”
These and legions of others with whom I am not familiar could, I am sure, be brought together to wage and win this war against the very soul of this country. Despite our many warts and bumps, the American people are a good people. Their hearts are in the right place and they deserve a fair shake that has eluded them for much too long. They are deserving of so much better.
It is time to stop the circus that has become the center of American politics, and the approach to the myriad personal and political agendas being proffered as panaceas for all that ails us. To any reasoned mind, those are gross over simplifications that just don’t pass the smell test.
The crisis we face is ominous. There is a sense of urgency to what we face that can no longer be ignored. The time to get serious and the time to get started are upon us.
Cowboy Bob
http://sagebrushphilosopher.blogspot.com/
June 24, 2011
Since the so-called “recession,” came down on our collective heads we have been witness to the “blame game” in all its glory and in all its manifestations. Lying, once a serious character flaw, has become commonplace almost to the level of a new art form. It has become an accepted means of survival in today’s world of government, business and commerce. We are no longer shocked by its use or its efficacy.
As I have watched the progression of events that seem to be taking us deeper into the morass of financial and social ruin, I have tried to distill from the sweeping malaise and growing sense of hopelessness just what it was that set this national nightmare in motion. I have concluded that nothing can happen to us that we don’t allow. In the final analysis, we the people bear the burden of this sad state of affairs because of our complacency and the willingness to allow others to determine our national priorities and the values that govern our everyday lives. Over the course of a very long time, there has been a gradual reversal in the relationship between the government and the governed. We no longer seem to have a common set of values that enable us to come together as one people and to work for the common good. Our moral base is in tatters. It no longer guides us in the conduct of our daily lives. Where we used to be one people with one purpose, we are now a collection of individuals who seem totally preoccupied with the satisfaction of every materialistic and hedonistic appetite imaginable. As long as I get mine, I really don’t give a damn whether or not you get yours. If I have to destroy and consume you in the process, so be it.
We have turned into a bunch of humanoids and automatons that no longer seem to be the least bit concerned about the other person and his/her welfare. We now have, as adults, the second generation of “spoiled brats” that come from the era of the child-centered home that spawned a sense of entitlement, which, in turn, has become the epitome of personal selfishness. Individual responsibility and discipline have been trumped by personal pleasure and the consumption of consumer goods. We have mortgaged our future in the pursuit of obtaining far more than we need and we still feel deprived in the midst of it all. We no longer define our own needs and wants. We have abdicated that responsibility to the marketing departments of big business, the creative departments of the entertainment industries and the programming departments of news organizations.
I don’t think we really know who and what we are anymore. We no longer question the motives of those who lead us. We believe they are acting with our best interests in mind. We simply accept what is peddled because it just takes too much time and effort to pause and attempt to ascertain what lies behind the sales pitch. Complacency is a terminal illness.
What happened to our sense of decency? Are we shocked and outraged by anything anymore? Are we sinking so far into the mire that we have become the product of our basest biological needs at the expense of those aspects of our nature that set us apart from animals lower on the food chain? Is erectile dysfunction really a national epidemic or is it a ploy to create a demand for prescription drugs that few really need? Is showing female cleavage really a fashion statement that elevates us to the next higher rung on the ladder of human evolution? Has the advent of electronic devices used for the purpose of entertainment, communication and social interaction really resulted in raising the human race to a higher position on the pecking order of living beings? When we no longer socialize with each other, no longer talk to each other, no longer care about each other and no longer help each other, what have we become? Animals? Is it just another manifestation of Darwin’s “survival of the fittest?”
At the end of the day, we can play the blame game until hell freezes over, but we have created the fertile ground for every vile and evil force within the fabric of the human condition in order to grow and prosper at our individual and collective expense. We have been had, big time. Why, then, do we continue to give legitimacy to the very forces that are destroying us and all that we hold near and dear to our hearts? Does any sane person really believe that the two political parties and the fringe element created by them have our best interests in mind? Does anyone really believe they are moved by anything other than ulterior motives to advance their insatiable greed and rapacious conquest of our very humanity? Does anyone really take seriously all the manifestations of that ignorant and simplistic philosophy?
We need to go back to square one and define what a real alternative to the mainstream political parties would look like and stand for. I have concluded that we no longer have genuine role models we can emulate and who can appeal to the finer angels within us. I have no doubts that they are there, just waiting to be rekindled to inspire us all to the greatness we once were and can surely be again. The bedrock has to be laid for a renaissance of the virtues that set us apart from the beasts of the jungle. We need leadership that reflects back to us all that we can aspire to despite our own individual shortcomings. They walk among us and, with the right stimulus could be roused to come to our aid and restore all that is good and decent among the people of this country. However, it has to start with ideals and leadership that reflect those ideals.
The hallmark of such an undertaking must be “equality, with fairness and justice for all.” Any such effort must be upfront and forthright about all it stands for and the objectives it will pursue on behalf of the people of this country, not special interests. It must be based on solid bedrocks of honesty and integrity. The aura of omnipotence that has surrounded our government and those who comprise it must be shattered. For far too long, that mystique has served them extremely well at the expense and peril of the American people. There must be a resolve to rout out corruption, conflicts of interest and self-serving practices. The shroud of secrecy that envelopes so much of what goes on in the name of “the people’s business,” must be lifted. Transparency and exposure to the light of day must be the norm, not the exception. Some things that come to mind are ----
1. Commercial institutions must be regulated so they render service to the people. There has to be an end to self-serving practices much of which lie at the root of all that has happened to the social and economic structure of this country since 2008. “Too big to fail” is an anomaly to good business practices and the responsible conduct of business affairs.
2. The closed loop of authority held by government officials must be broken. It is utterly inconceivable in this modern age that elected officials can unilaterally determine their levels of compensation, the perquisites they enjoy and the benefit of lavish healthcare and retirement programs after having served only one term in office. There should be no opportunity for that to occur without the expressed consent of the governed by a referendum of the voters. I find it incredulous that one can go to Washington a pauper and come home a millionaire. Is this what has so shamelessly been asked of working people to support?
3. Private money, in all its forms, must be purged from the conduct of government affairs. Campaign finance reform is imperative.
4. Term limits need to be considered for every elected office in order to prevent the accumulation of power and “squatter’s rights” at the expense of the electorate.
5. The Tax Code needs to be massively reformed in order to simplify the process and to make the system fair and equitable for all taxpayers.
6. Somewhere within the vast labyrinths of government there must be an office the sole purpose of which is to determine and ensure an “arms length relationship” between all parties to government bids and procurement contracts. Objectivity and the absence of opportunities for collusion must prevail between contract negotiations, procurement and compensation for goods and services. Individual branches of government should not be allowed to unilaterally engage in such practices lest they occur at the expense of the people.
7. All government property rightfully belongs to the people. No government property should be bought, sold or leased by government officials without the expressed consent of the voters by means of the public referendum.
8. There should be no provision for “private” and/or secret meetings between elected officials and special interests. All such meetings should be open and properly documented for the record. “Special deals” have cost this country dearly and have contributed to the creation of centers of informal power and questionable practices that may have bordered on criminal conduct. There is no legitimate reason for such behavior, except in cases of national security, in which case there should be a sunset provision up front, for eventually de-classifying the records of such meetings.
9. No subsidies should be allowed for industries doing business with the government. If the free market system is to work effectively, as we have been led to believe, then let the investment of resources and the acumen of those business leaders prevail at their own peril. The taxpayers have been held hostage to this bribery long enough.
10. The revolving door between government service and service as a lobbyist must be stopped. Clearly, a blatant conflict of interest serves no useful purpose that accrues to the benefit of the citizens of this country. Where a professional assessment or study of an issue is needed, then let the government go to outside, objective sources for the knowledge and expertise required to advise them on the merits of any given issue. Our colleges and universities are replete with a wellspring of minds and talent that no single or group of politicians can equal. They are free of the constraints that exist within the Beltway. No personal stake in the game. No special deals, just sound knowledge and good judgment.
11. And last, but certainly not least, we must abolish corporate ownership of our news media. The Founding Fathers envisioned a free and unfettered press to keep the system honest. Only by shedding the shackles of the corporate mindset and the massive amounts of money at their disposal, will we restore that ideal and the safeguards to our system of government.
This list could go on, but I think I have made my point. This is not rocket science. There is nothing that ails our government that a good CPA and a Business Lawyer couldn’t remedy. That this and much more could be written is all well and good. However, nothing of a positive and lasting nature can result until we accept nothing less than absolute honesty and integrity in government by those elected to serve us. The standards that apply to one must apply to all. Meaningful standards can only be the result of reasoned and sane minds. Screaming lunatics spouting the wrath of god and the trite solutions to all that ails us just won’t do the trick. Credibility is totally alien to all they espouse. They are demagogues using religious zeal in which to wrap their perverse goals in the cloth of respectability. The only thing they will do for us is a further erosion of our ideals.
Any real effort to bring a new political party to life must clearly and unequivocally state exactly what their agenda is and how they expect to realize its fulfillment. Latitudes and platitudes just won’t cut it. Vague, nonspecific rhetoric can no longer be the order of the day. Surely, we have had enough of that to last us for a very long time. However, let us not delude ourselves into believing the change we need will come easily or quickly. Make no mistake about it. It is going to be a labor of love, the only reward for which is hard work and the satisfaction of knowing the country is a little bit better because of their commitment to higher ideals.
I just don’t see how we can put off serious consideration of a real governing alternative in the form of a completely new political party, free of the encumbrances of those who have had “squatter’s rights” on our government for far too long. The “old boys club” must give way to “servants of the people and for the public interest.” Service must be seen as a badge of honor and pride, not an opportunity to engage in the wholesale plundering of the nation’s treasury and indentured servitude to every special interest seeking to profit at our expense.
Where do we begin and how do we start? I would begin by convening a group of people of like mind for the expressed purpose of laying the groundwork for the party. That group must, of necessity, be in an age group where ideals are seen as within their grasp. They must have that fire-in-the-belly that other greats have manifested in the heyday of their careers. They must do the work of giving birth to a new political party, nurturing it to maturity and giving it a lasting life on the American political scene. They must believe it can set this country on a new and lasting course for the benefit of all the people in this republic.
I mean this with absolutely no respect. There is a nucleus of mature people whose hearts and minds are kindred spirits to any such endeavor. They have grown and evolved into what I regard as the great sages of our time. However, it is simply a fact that, as people rise in prominence and affluence, they become a part of a social stratum that is more staid and less revolutionary. That doesn’t, however, mean they are any less willing to share their experience and wisdom with a younger generation wanting to make the radical changes we so desperately need.
Permit me to engage in a bit of name-dropping:
Bill Moyers is one of the pre-eminent journalists and intellectuals of our time. I would be surprised if he wouldn't gladly share the benefit of his knowledge, experience and wisdom with any viable group of dedicated individuals seeking to make this country better. His contacts, alone, would be an invaluable reservoir of helpful information.
David Stockman, former Budget Director in the Reagan Administration probably has a better grasp on the sorry state of our economy and the institutions that comprise it than any other person in the business.
Jonathan Turley on the staff of Georgetown University is probably one of the best constitutional lawyers around.
Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman are both Nobel Laureates in the field of economics. Robert Reich is well schooled and highly respected in economics and public policy.
Elizabeth Warren would be an excellent source of knowledge in terms of consumer protection policies.
Brooksley Born is probably the most knowledgeable person in the world when it comes to the regulation of derivatives and hedge funds.
Madeline Albright has excellent experience in international affairs and foreign policy.
Wesley Clark would be able to provide some valuable insights into issues pertaining to the military establishment and ways in which the relationship between the military, the intelligence apparatus and the political system could be improved.
Russ Feingold, former Senator from Wisconsin, would be the one to help in revamping campaign finance laws and practices.
Bernie Sanders would be an invaluable resource for advice in creating a party that is more responsive to the electorate and the needs of the country.
Peter Morici would be an excellent resource person in matters pertaining to international trade and monetary policy.
Ed Rendell, former Governor of Pennsylvania would be an excellent resource in forming a new political party.
Alan Grayson, former Congressman from Florida is a real firebrand and would be a great influence in the formation of a new political party.
Eliot Spitzer would be an outstanding resource person on government regulation.
Chuck Hagel is, in my opinion, one of the finest men ever to have served in government. He is the former U.S. Senator from the State of Nebraska, and is currently on the faculty of Georgetown University. He has served this country in the military with distinction and has demonstrated the leadership qualities essential to the political process. In his book, America: Our Next Chapter, he suggests that the United States should adopt independent leadership and possibly another political party.
Keep in mind that I am thinking of people who have the reputation, stature and countenance of real leaders, not politicians or community organizers.
A new political party is simply going to have to begin by committing to a bold set of objectives in order to restore confidence and trust in government as an instrument for all the people.
1. Declare a national fiscal emergency. Break up all the financial institutions that have been deemed “too big to fail.” Re-instate the provisions of the Glass/Steagall Act for the purpose of regulating financial institutions and limiting the scope and power of their activities.
2. Restore the tax brackets that were in effect during the Clinton Administration, preparatory to a massive restructuring of the tax code.
3. Declare a moratorium on the sale or lease of public assets to private interests by elected officials, with a goal of legislating all future actions subject to a referendum of the voters.
4. Preparation of a Constitutional Amendment that will clearly define a “person” as a living human being who is a bonafide citizen of the United States of America. No legal entity or organization can be accorded the same privileges to act on behalf of those rights and privileges that are the exclusive purview of individual citizens.
5. Embark on a serious and comprehensive goal of complete campaign finance reform.
6. Advocate and support a ban on the “revolving door” between government service and working as a lobbyist for special interests. If any branch of government needs the help of experts, then the government should find the means to call on the reservoirs of that expertise by contractual arrangements that are fully transparent.
7. Seek legislation that will prohibit secret meetings by the various branches of government, except in matters of national security. In all such cases, there should be a reasonable sunset provision that would expire and remove the shroud of secrecy, thereafter making the records open to the public.
8. Except in cases that clearly deal with issues of national security, complete transparency must be the order of the day. No more “private” meetings between members of Congress, the President and other agencies of government, with private organizations having a vested interest in the outcome of any legislation or regulation specific to those industries.
9. Embark on a massive study of trade policies and practices with the objective of restoring our national priorities and welfare to the process.
10. Restore fairness and equality to labor laws so those who produce as well as those who invest in the economy share a level playing field. Indentured servitude died with the Dark Ages.
11. Every effort must be made to break up the “military/industrial complex,” so that entire part of our government is transparent and can withstand the light of day.
I believe we need a division within the government that evaluates proposed legislation in order to ensure no process becomes a closed loop. One part of the process cannot be allowed to influence or control any other part. The outcome should be a cost/benefit analysis that clearly establishes the best interests of the people are being served. A sister bureau within the Department of Justice should evaluate what is being done in the name of and on behalf of the electorate so as to preclude any and all self-serving practices and conflicts of interest that may accrue to the detriment of the electorate.
Beyond these few considerations, the party should make a solemn commitment to the voters that the hallmark of everything the party stands for has the objective of restoring accountability and control to the people of this country. The era of exclusivity that has dominated our national politics for far too long must end. A healthy democracy requires no less, which I believe are the underpinnings of what the Founding Fathers intended.
A study by an appropriate mix of constitutional scholars should, I believe, re-examine the intended role and powers of each branch of government against those now in place, with the goal of restoring the balance that served us so well in the past. Democracy is much too precious and too fragile to countenance the coveting of power, privilege, influence and imperial aspirations. At the end of the day, we are and should remain one people, united in our common welfare.
I am asking nothing of you except that you take the time to read what I have written. If you see merit in these words, that you will take the time and effort to share it with others who are in a position to make it happen. Time is not on our side. If real change is to happen, it must start now. Three guiding principles that can make it happen come to mind.
The first is, “Anything is possible as long as no one cares who gets the
credit for it.“
The second is, “The message is more important than the messenger.“
The third is, “There is nothing stronger than a simple belief.“
I do believe we must do something bold, with a strong sense of purpose and a cast iron will to make it happen. It can and must be done.
1. A new political party must have a name that reflects our most noble ideals (“The Egalitarian Party”) It must have a motto that reflects its core objective (“The Voice of America.”)
2. The process must begin with (a) strategic plan, (b) an operational plan, (c) a list of possible candidates who might consider taking up the banner.
3. The hallmark of an initial campaign should be a clear and definitive statement of what the party stands for, what the party intends to address (in rank order of priority) and a time frame for accomplishing those objectives.
4. Do not hesitate to name individuals who will be called upon to join and support this new adventure, and to endorse candidates affiliated with other political parties whose goals are consistent with this political party.
5. Leaders must be squeaky clean and free of scandal. The public must have confidence in “what you see is what you get.”
These and legions of others with whom I am not familiar could, I am sure, be brought together to wage and win this war against the very soul of this country. Despite our many warts and bumps, the American people are a good people. Their hearts are in the right place and they deserve a fair shake that has eluded them for much too long. They are deserving of so much better.
It is time to stop the circus that has become the center of American politics, and the approach to the myriad personal and political agendas being proffered as panaceas for all that ails us. To any reasoned mind, those are gross over simplifications that just don’t pass the smell test.
The crisis we face is ominous. There is a sense of urgency to what we face that can no longer be ignored. The time to get serious and the time to get started are upon us.
Cowboy Bob
http://sagebrushphilosopher.blogspot.com/
June 24, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Personal Meanderings of an Expat in 2004
I was moved to write the following a few years ago. You might find it interesting.
Cowboy Bob
June 18, 2011
November 16, 2004
The weather here is as nice as it gets anywhere in the world. The daytime temperatures are in the 80’s and the nighttime temperatures are in the 60’s. A fitting reward for four months of searing heat.
The Holy Month of Ramadan came to a close last Friday. We are now in the 4th day of a 5-day celebration of the Eid holiday following Ramadan. Virtually nothing is going on, so time weighs heavy for those of us who have to man our stations. I will be glad when it’s over and we are back on a regular work routine. Boredom has its limits.
One side benefit to this particular time is that there is practically no traffic on the roads. I can actually relax and enjoy the drive. Unless you have experienced driving over here, that statement doesn’t mean much. Suffice to say that, normally, it is a never-ending exercise in defensive driving. For the young who see themselves as immortal, a car is a toy. For those of use who have to keep an eye out for them, it is a lethal weapon. Come Saturday, that will be the rule. I dread it.
The last 20 kilometers of the drive to work is open desert. It is a barren landscape with a mysterious beauty. During Ramadan the Bedouins move to the outskirts of the city and there is a proliferation of tent encampments. Gone are the beautiful black and white goat hair tents which have historically been their nomadic homes. In their place is the same old grey canvass commonplace in other parts of the world. I have enjoyed watching the large camel herds as they move slowly and majestically across the landscape. Every morning I see the same lone shepherd with his flock of sheep, followed by his faithful black donkey. I often ponder the hundreds of years between his life and mine. I doubt they would want theirs to be any different. Perhaps they have a secret to the good life that is yet to be discovered by the likes of me. I will never know.
They have already started breaking camp and moving back into the desert. As they do, their campsites are tidied up and all that remains are blackened spots of earth left from their camp fires. Were it not for those, you would never know they had been there. It is almost as if they were an illusion; never existing in reality.
Life has changed dramatically for western expats what with the rise in religious zealotry and terrorism. It has started to wear on me. A routine limited to life behind razor wire and armed guards, with the daily drive to and from work, and a trip to the supermarket once a week just doesn’t cut it. It isn’t necessarily the freedom to go about at will, but the knowing that I can when I want to - that is the issue. In a country where all the men dress the same, it is hard to discern friend from enemy, something that cannot help but engender a constant level of anxiety.
I have long maintained that a person can be alone without being lonely. I tend to be a loner. I am not charmed by trite conversation and cheap small talk. I find it boring, and the people who inflict it on others even more so. Besides, if socializing requires attire of more than blue jeans, a sweat shirt and a pair of Birkenstocks, I consider that a formal occasion. Not my cup of tea.
The Internet has been a boon to me. I am probably better informed than I have ever been in my life. I never cease to be awed by the sheer volume of information available. The downside is that books tend to stay on the shelf and gather dust. A forgotten treasure. I don’t listen to music like I used to. Music nourishes my soul. I feel better when I listen to music regularly. Perhaps that accounts for some of what I like to perceive as creeping eccentricity rather than openly acknowledging the realities of the aging process.
I would like to think I am a realist. I tend to accept life pretty much as it is and I am not easily swayed by what others may think of me. I don’t mind looking and acting my age so long as it reflects an active mind and a sincere concern as to where all of the crap in the world is taking us. I am offended by the youth cult. It is pathetic that people feel like they have to dye their hair at the first sign of grey. What is even worse are the humongous amounts of money being spent on face lifts, Botox injections and eye jobs at the first sign of a wrinkle, particularly among men. Vanity is endemic to the industrialized world and I think we are the poorer for it.
I do think about my age more than I used to. I don’t cook as much now. It isn’t important anymore. I nod off faster and more frequently in front of the television set. I am annoyed about so much of what goes with the aging process. The worst are people’s inclinations to patronize me more than in years gone by. That is insulting and I am not very gracious about it. I hate the fact that hair now grows where it shouldn’t and doesn’t grow where it should. The ears are particularly fertile ground. I swear the hairs grow an inch every night. Thank God for tweezers, Isopropyl Alcohol and a good pair of eye glasses. Have I become what can aptly be described as a “biological compost pile?” That is a sobering thought!
One of the great injustices of the life process is the fact that hormones are wasted on the young and wisdom is wasted on the old. I would have been a real dynamo if I had the wisdom at 30 that I have at 68. On the other hand, if I had the hormones at 60 plus that I had at 30 I would no doubt have suffered a massive vascular blowout long before I reached 68. Where is the justice of it all?
I am put off by older people who constantly talk about it. Alright, so you are old and getting older. What is the big deal? I honestly believe that deep within each of us lies that vibrant specimen of what we were in our prime, which requires constant nurturing. I think talking about getting older all the time hastens the aging process. An active mind, a never-ending curiosity about life and this world, and a sincere desire to make this crazy mess just a bit better where and when we can is a tonic. Maybe that is why I always had such an aversion to golf. What is there to emulate in a bunch of silly old men in gaudy clothes hitting their balls down a fairway (not to mention that small talk issue again), when they could be immersed in all of the other exciting things going on in the world? An added bonus is they just might be able to make a change for the better.
One last thought. Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State !!!! And we thought things couldn’t get any worse.
Well, this workday is drawing to a close. I think I will go home, change into some comfortable clothes and fix some brown rice and beans for dinner. That’s a bill of fare, rich in fiber, that should make for a good BM in the AM. Life’s pleasures are few.
November 17, 2004
I was in pretty good spirits when I wrote this. Admittedly, it is no literary masterpiece, but it is honest.
With the passage of time, it is easy to regress to a state of complacency after each assault on the senses. I have experienced it and observed it in others with each bombing and targeted assassination. It is amazing at how quickly we adapt and settle into a new routine.
In the long run I tend to believe all the palatial splendor around me is made possible by the wealth generated from the massive oil reserves under the surface of this peninsula. Not so. I stopped to fill my car with gasoline this morning, As I am predisposed to do from time to time, I casually struck up a conversation with the guys manning the gas pumps. I was hit yet again, right between the eyes, of the other reality behind all this opulence. It is a given that all of them are from Third World countries. They are the poorest of the poor. In this case, they are all from the Indian subcontinent. Each of them is on a 6-year employment contract. They work 12-hour days, 365 days per year, and never get to go home, even once, during that entire time. They are paid the equivalent of 186.47 US Dollars per month, which equates to 51 cents per hour. They live in absolutely squalid conditions, and subsist on such gourmet delights as fish heads and rice, chicken necks and rice, etc. Enough to make Wolfgang Puck salivate.
All of this perpetrated by yet another population that knows, with absolute certainty that God is on their side, the excesses not withstanding. True faith is humbling. Zealotry is frightening. Like most religions, both manifestations are to be found here just as they are in the U.S.A.
Cowboy Bob
June 18, 2011
November 16, 2004
The weather here is as nice as it gets anywhere in the world. The daytime temperatures are in the 80’s and the nighttime temperatures are in the 60’s. A fitting reward for four months of searing heat.
The Holy Month of Ramadan came to a close last Friday. We are now in the 4th day of a 5-day celebration of the Eid holiday following Ramadan. Virtually nothing is going on, so time weighs heavy for those of us who have to man our stations. I will be glad when it’s over and we are back on a regular work routine. Boredom has its limits.
One side benefit to this particular time is that there is practically no traffic on the roads. I can actually relax and enjoy the drive. Unless you have experienced driving over here, that statement doesn’t mean much. Suffice to say that, normally, it is a never-ending exercise in defensive driving. For the young who see themselves as immortal, a car is a toy. For those of use who have to keep an eye out for them, it is a lethal weapon. Come Saturday, that will be the rule. I dread it.
The last 20 kilometers of the drive to work is open desert. It is a barren landscape with a mysterious beauty. During Ramadan the Bedouins move to the outskirts of the city and there is a proliferation of tent encampments. Gone are the beautiful black and white goat hair tents which have historically been their nomadic homes. In their place is the same old grey canvass commonplace in other parts of the world. I have enjoyed watching the large camel herds as they move slowly and majestically across the landscape. Every morning I see the same lone shepherd with his flock of sheep, followed by his faithful black donkey. I often ponder the hundreds of years between his life and mine. I doubt they would want theirs to be any different. Perhaps they have a secret to the good life that is yet to be discovered by the likes of me. I will never know.
They have already started breaking camp and moving back into the desert. As they do, their campsites are tidied up and all that remains are blackened spots of earth left from their camp fires. Were it not for those, you would never know they had been there. It is almost as if they were an illusion; never existing in reality.
Life has changed dramatically for western expats what with the rise in religious zealotry and terrorism. It has started to wear on me. A routine limited to life behind razor wire and armed guards, with the daily drive to and from work, and a trip to the supermarket once a week just doesn’t cut it. It isn’t necessarily the freedom to go about at will, but the knowing that I can when I want to - that is the issue. In a country where all the men dress the same, it is hard to discern friend from enemy, something that cannot help but engender a constant level of anxiety.
I have long maintained that a person can be alone without being lonely. I tend to be a loner. I am not charmed by trite conversation and cheap small talk. I find it boring, and the people who inflict it on others even more so. Besides, if socializing requires attire of more than blue jeans, a sweat shirt and a pair of Birkenstocks, I consider that a formal occasion. Not my cup of tea.
The Internet has been a boon to me. I am probably better informed than I have ever been in my life. I never cease to be awed by the sheer volume of information available. The downside is that books tend to stay on the shelf and gather dust. A forgotten treasure. I don’t listen to music like I used to. Music nourishes my soul. I feel better when I listen to music regularly. Perhaps that accounts for some of what I like to perceive as creeping eccentricity rather than openly acknowledging the realities of the aging process.
I would like to think I am a realist. I tend to accept life pretty much as it is and I am not easily swayed by what others may think of me. I don’t mind looking and acting my age so long as it reflects an active mind and a sincere concern as to where all of the crap in the world is taking us. I am offended by the youth cult. It is pathetic that people feel like they have to dye their hair at the first sign of grey. What is even worse are the humongous amounts of money being spent on face lifts, Botox injections and eye jobs at the first sign of a wrinkle, particularly among men. Vanity is endemic to the industrialized world and I think we are the poorer for it.
I do think about my age more than I used to. I don’t cook as much now. It isn’t important anymore. I nod off faster and more frequently in front of the television set. I am annoyed about so much of what goes with the aging process. The worst are people’s inclinations to patronize me more than in years gone by. That is insulting and I am not very gracious about it. I hate the fact that hair now grows where it shouldn’t and doesn’t grow where it should. The ears are particularly fertile ground. I swear the hairs grow an inch every night. Thank God for tweezers, Isopropyl Alcohol and a good pair of eye glasses. Have I become what can aptly be described as a “biological compost pile?” That is a sobering thought!
One of the great injustices of the life process is the fact that hormones are wasted on the young and wisdom is wasted on the old. I would have been a real dynamo if I had the wisdom at 30 that I have at 68. On the other hand, if I had the hormones at 60 plus that I had at 30 I would no doubt have suffered a massive vascular blowout long before I reached 68. Where is the justice of it all?
I am put off by older people who constantly talk about it. Alright, so you are old and getting older. What is the big deal? I honestly believe that deep within each of us lies that vibrant specimen of what we were in our prime, which requires constant nurturing. I think talking about getting older all the time hastens the aging process. An active mind, a never-ending curiosity about life and this world, and a sincere desire to make this crazy mess just a bit better where and when we can is a tonic. Maybe that is why I always had such an aversion to golf. What is there to emulate in a bunch of silly old men in gaudy clothes hitting their balls down a fairway (not to mention that small talk issue again), when they could be immersed in all of the other exciting things going on in the world? An added bonus is they just might be able to make a change for the better.
One last thought. Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State !!!! And we thought things couldn’t get any worse.
Well, this workday is drawing to a close. I think I will go home, change into some comfortable clothes and fix some brown rice and beans for dinner. That’s a bill of fare, rich in fiber, that should make for a good BM in the AM. Life’s pleasures are few.
November 17, 2004
I was in pretty good spirits when I wrote this. Admittedly, it is no literary masterpiece, but it is honest.
With the passage of time, it is easy to regress to a state of complacency after each assault on the senses. I have experienced it and observed it in others with each bombing and targeted assassination. It is amazing at how quickly we adapt and settle into a new routine.
In the long run I tend to believe all the palatial splendor around me is made possible by the wealth generated from the massive oil reserves under the surface of this peninsula. Not so. I stopped to fill my car with gasoline this morning, As I am predisposed to do from time to time, I casually struck up a conversation with the guys manning the gas pumps. I was hit yet again, right between the eyes, of the other reality behind all this opulence. It is a given that all of them are from Third World countries. They are the poorest of the poor. In this case, they are all from the Indian subcontinent. Each of them is on a 6-year employment contract. They work 12-hour days, 365 days per year, and never get to go home, even once, during that entire time. They are paid the equivalent of 186.47 US Dollars per month, which equates to 51 cents per hour. They live in absolutely squalid conditions, and subsist on such gourmet delights as fish heads and rice, chicken necks and rice, etc. Enough to make Wolfgang Puck salivate.
All of this perpetrated by yet another population that knows, with absolute certainty that God is on their side, the excesses not withstanding. True faith is humbling. Zealotry is frightening. Like most religions, both manifestations are to be found here just as they are in the U.S.A.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
"Where Are You In The Lives Of All Americans, Mr. President?"
I don’t wish to denigrate the assassination of Osama bin Laden on Barack Obama’s watch. It is a sterling achievement and one that is long overdue. But, to hail that as a great feat of leadership is a bit difficult for me to accept. That is to be the legacy of a man whose entire style of “leadership” is consensus decision-making and bi-partisanship? I ask you, where is the hallmark of a real leader in all this? If truth be known, he may have had the final “go head” on this one, but I would hazard a guess that it came in the wake of consensus-building, big time. It just isn’t in his nature to do it any other way.
He is getting a lot of good press and, of course, the media personalities are fawning all over him and hailing him as the great leader. The memory of those who died on 9/11 and their survivors have waited a long time for this. However, I would ask, “What has our Great Leader” done for the massive numbers of Americans who are suffering unmercifully because of his betrayal of them and his sell-out to massive wealth, big business and the elites of our society? Are their lives any less precious? I hardly think so. The pain of the victims of 9-11 has long vanished. The pain of those suffering and yet to suffer at the hands of the plutocrats and the oligarchs is still to be measured. Their stark agony remains with no end in sight. Milk this for as much as you can get out of it, Mr. President. You have yet to convince me you even know the definition of the word “leader,” much less how to be one.
Let’s take a few moments to focus on some of President Obama’s more notable achievements.
He was going to bring those guilty of criminal behavior during the Bush Administration to justice. What did he do? He decided we should look to the future rather than dwell on the past. The entire lot of them got off Scott free and is living the good life among us.
He was going to close Guantanamo Bay Prison, do away with secret trials and military tribunals. What did he do? Nothing. They are still in effect.
He was going to do away with warrant-less wiretapping and other spying activities on civilians. What did he do? Nothing. They are still viable.
He was going to do whatever it would take to stimulate the economy and create jobs. What did he do? He virtually ignored every recommendation made by some of the finest economic minds in the country, and brought back all the key players from the Clinton Administration who set us up for this catastrophe. The result is a weak and totally ineffective recovery, at best, if not outright stagnation. But, the boys who brought this down on us continue to flourish and prosper at the taxpayers’ expense!
He was going to reinstate the controls on financial industries that were, essentially, the essence of the Glass-Steagal Act, in order to prevent this from ever happening again. What did we get? He invited the very ones who perpetrated this catastrophe into the tent, met with his happy band of former Clinton rogues, and co-opted Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. They got their heads together and produced the weakest, most ineffective set of regulations one could possibly imagine. The result is that those most responsible for the debacle are thriving and flourishing at the expense of the taxpayers. Ben Bernanke has provided them with taxpayer funds at little or no interest so they, in turn, could re-loan the funds, with interest, that enabled them to make even more money at the expense of the taxpayers.
He was going to re-open the provisions of NAFTA in order to make it more favorable to the interests of the workers in the United States. What did he do? He met with the President of Mexico and the Prime Minister of Canada, the result of which was his reaffirmation of the provisions of that agreement and a commitment to strengthen it even further to the detriment of our national interests.
Home mortgages have gone through the roof with repossessions of homes at an all time high. Millions of Americans have lost their homes and have been put on the street, while the stench of corruption and criminal improprieties in that market have gone unnoticed and unpunished. Their plundering of the market has barely slowed.
He was going to do great and wondrous things in order to provide the citizens of this country with affordable healthcare that would cover virtually everybody. He was an avowed advocate of a public payer option and government negotiated prices for prescription drugs. What did we get? He invited the bandits from the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies into the tent (secret White House meetings) and we ended up with no public option and no negotiated prices for prescription drugs. Instead, we got a convoluted program that requires the acumen of a Philadelphia lawyer to comprehend, and we are led to believe that we have the greatest healthcare plan in history.
He caved in to the Republicans and the Tea Baggers, and agreed to a two-year extension of the tax cuts for the rich in exchange for a paltry 10-month extension of unemployment insurance for the massive numbers of Americans out of work. It was hailed as the greatest thing since paper clips and we were expected to bow down in grateful humility for his acumen and compassion on our behalf. Now, in the wake of the brilliance of his Debt Reduction Commission, he is on a kick to reduce our National Debt on the backs of the working people and poor of this country. He will not acknowledge that we don’t have a debt problem but, rather, a revenue problem. Although he is blustering about raising the taxes on the rich and on corporations, which are at best two years away, I seriously doubt they will ever become reality. It is the stuff of a good speech but not the substance of his reality.
He has refused to focus on the need for scaling back our massive financial commitment to the military/industrial complex. In cahoots with the defense establishment, he has engaged in an exercise of smoke and mirrors to convince us that he will embark on significant reductions in those areas, all the while playing games with the numbers so they end up with even more money. Ah, such is the price of empire!
Then there is the never-ending bluster about taking on the unfair trade practices with China. My question to him, after lo these many months of rhetoric, “Where is the beef?” I doubt that we will ever see it.
Where has our illustrious leader been when public workers took on the Oberfuhrer in the Governor’s Mansion in Wisconsin? Did he give them the moral support they warranted? He was no where to be seen and is not likely to make an appearance in other places that are under siege by the Republican juggernaut hell bent on the mass destruction of public institutions and workers’ rights in places such as Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, New Jersey and other places yet to bear the brunt of their assaults. Where is this great leader of the Democratic philosophy of government to be found?
Where is the President in the lives of the families of Appalachia, trying to eek out a life supported by meager wages, all the while bearing witness to the rapacious destruction of one of the greatest ecological treasures in the nation, as coal companies level mountains and pollute valleys in their never-ending pursuit of more money?
Where is the President in the lives of those in the Rust Belt, disenfranchised from honest labor because of the wholesale loss of jobs to cheap labor markets in foreign countries? How are they to survive and ascend the ladder of the American Dream?
Where is the President in the lives of those along the Gulf Coast still waiting for the recompense that was supposed to be forthcoming from British Petroleum as compensation for their wanton destruction of the Gulf of Mexico and those who are dependent on its health?
Where is the President in the lives of the Midwestern farmers who bear witness to the destruction of a way of life that has long been the backbone of these United States of America? Where is there hope for them as agribusiness gobbles up valuable farm land for their genetically modified crops and the production of food grains for ethanol?
Where is the President in the lives of those who shiver from the cold because they can no longer afford to pay the price of oil to heat their homes?
Where is the President in the lives of those who have to further cut back on their meager assets in order to fork over the price of gasoline for their cars, now approaching five dollars per gallon?
Where is the President in the lives of all those who have seen their retirement programs vaporize before their very eyes because of the shenanigans of the financial slight-of-hand antics of investment bankers?
Where is the President in the lives of those who can no longer afford to go to college in order to better themselves and their families?
Where is the President in the lives of those who have gone off to war, sacrificing their lives because there are no jobs to be had at home, sworn to protect the lives and life-styles of those who exploit them and their families for the almighty dollar? What, I ask you, is noble about that?
Where is the President in the lives of the Native Americans, long ago exiled to remote reservations, consigned to a meager existence just in order to survive, with the faint hope that the white man will someday realize the error of his ways and show them the respect they deserve? But, that is ancient history with faint hope of any discernable change.
Where, Mr. Obama, are you in the lives of all those who believed in you, supported you and voted you into office, only to be totally betrayed by all that you have either proven to be or not to be? About all your base can do, at this point, is wait for the other shoe to drop in order to see what other morbid surprises still await us, as you toss us another crumb, capped off with a lofty speech and the promise of better things to come.
Change we can believe in? No matter what you may choose to call it, Mr. President, your record has shown you to be less than the real deal. For the sake of all those who need to believe in you, I wish you were.
Cowboy Bob
May 4, 2011
He is getting a lot of good press and, of course, the media personalities are fawning all over him and hailing him as the great leader. The memory of those who died on 9/11 and their survivors have waited a long time for this. However, I would ask, “What has our Great Leader” done for the massive numbers of Americans who are suffering unmercifully because of his betrayal of them and his sell-out to massive wealth, big business and the elites of our society? Are their lives any less precious? I hardly think so. The pain of the victims of 9-11 has long vanished. The pain of those suffering and yet to suffer at the hands of the plutocrats and the oligarchs is still to be measured. Their stark agony remains with no end in sight. Milk this for as much as you can get out of it, Mr. President. You have yet to convince me you even know the definition of the word “leader,” much less how to be one.
Let’s take a few moments to focus on some of President Obama’s more notable achievements.
He was going to bring those guilty of criminal behavior during the Bush Administration to justice. What did he do? He decided we should look to the future rather than dwell on the past. The entire lot of them got off Scott free and is living the good life among us.
He was going to close Guantanamo Bay Prison, do away with secret trials and military tribunals. What did he do? Nothing. They are still in effect.
He was going to do away with warrant-less wiretapping and other spying activities on civilians. What did he do? Nothing. They are still viable.
He was going to do whatever it would take to stimulate the economy and create jobs. What did he do? He virtually ignored every recommendation made by some of the finest economic minds in the country, and brought back all the key players from the Clinton Administration who set us up for this catastrophe. The result is a weak and totally ineffective recovery, at best, if not outright stagnation. But, the boys who brought this down on us continue to flourish and prosper at the taxpayers’ expense!
He was going to reinstate the controls on financial industries that were, essentially, the essence of the Glass-Steagal Act, in order to prevent this from ever happening again. What did we get? He invited the very ones who perpetrated this catastrophe into the tent, met with his happy band of former Clinton rogues, and co-opted Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. They got their heads together and produced the weakest, most ineffective set of regulations one could possibly imagine. The result is that those most responsible for the debacle are thriving and flourishing at the expense of the taxpayers. Ben Bernanke has provided them with taxpayer funds at little or no interest so they, in turn, could re-loan the funds, with interest, that enabled them to make even more money at the expense of the taxpayers.
He was going to re-open the provisions of NAFTA in order to make it more favorable to the interests of the workers in the United States. What did he do? He met with the President of Mexico and the Prime Minister of Canada, the result of which was his reaffirmation of the provisions of that agreement and a commitment to strengthen it even further to the detriment of our national interests.
Home mortgages have gone through the roof with repossessions of homes at an all time high. Millions of Americans have lost their homes and have been put on the street, while the stench of corruption and criminal improprieties in that market have gone unnoticed and unpunished. Their plundering of the market has barely slowed.
He was going to do great and wondrous things in order to provide the citizens of this country with affordable healthcare that would cover virtually everybody. He was an avowed advocate of a public payer option and government negotiated prices for prescription drugs. What did we get? He invited the bandits from the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies into the tent (secret White House meetings) and we ended up with no public option and no negotiated prices for prescription drugs. Instead, we got a convoluted program that requires the acumen of a Philadelphia lawyer to comprehend, and we are led to believe that we have the greatest healthcare plan in history.
He caved in to the Republicans and the Tea Baggers, and agreed to a two-year extension of the tax cuts for the rich in exchange for a paltry 10-month extension of unemployment insurance for the massive numbers of Americans out of work. It was hailed as the greatest thing since paper clips and we were expected to bow down in grateful humility for his acumen and compassion on our behalf. Now, in the wake of the brilliance of his Debt Reduction Commission, he is on a kick to reduce our National Debt on the backs of the working people and poor of this country. He will not acknowledge that we don’t have a debt problem but, rather, a revenue problem. Although he is blustering about raising the taxes on the rich and on corporations, which are at best two years away, I seriously doubt they will ever become reality. It is the stuff of a good speech but not the substance of his reality.
He has refused to focus on the need for scaling back our massive financial commitment to the military/industrial complex. In cahoots with the defense establishment, he has engaged in an exercise of smoke and mirrors to convince us that he will embark on significant reductions in those areas, all the while playing games with the numbers so they end up with even more money. Ah, such is the price of empire!
Then there is the never-ending bluster about taking on the unfair trade practices with China. My question to him, after lo these many months of rhetoric, “Where is the beef?” I doubt that we will ever see it.
Where has our illustrious leader been when public workers took on the Oberfuhrer in the Governor’s Mansion in Wisconsin? Did he give them the moral support they warranted? He was no where to be seen and is not likely to make an appearance in other places that are under siege by the Republican juggernaut hell bent on the mass destruction of public institutions and workers’ rights in places such as Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, New Jersey and other places yet to bear the brunt of their assaults. Where is this great leader of the Democratic philosophy of government to be found?
Where is the President in the lives of the families of Appalachia, trying to eek out a life supported by meager wages, all the while bearing witness to the rapacious destruction of one of the greatest ecological treasures in the nation, as coal companies level mountains and pollute valleys in their never-ending pursuit of more money?
Where is the President in the lives of those in the Rust Belt, disenfranchised from honest labor because of the wholesale loss of jobs to cheap labor markets in foreign countries? How are they to survive and ascend the ladder of the American Dream?
Where is the President in the lives of those along the Gulf Coast still waiting for the recompense that was supposed to be forthcoming from British Petroleum as compensation for their wanton destruction of the Gulf of Mexico and those who are dependent on its health?
Where is the President in the lives of the Midwestern farmers who bear witness to the destruction of a way of life that has long been the backbone of these United States of America? Where is there hope for them as agribusiness gobbles up valuable farm land for their genetically modified crops and the production of food grains for ethanol?
Where is the President in the lives of those who shiver from the cold because they can no longer afford to pay the price of oil to heat their homes?
Where is the President in the lives of those who have to further cut back on their meager assets in order to fork over the price of gasoline for their cars, now approaching five dollars per gallon?
Where is the President in the lives of all those who have seen their retirement programs vaporize before their very eyes because of the shenanigans of the financial slight-of-hand antics of investment bankers?
Where is the President in the lives of those who can no longer afford to go to college in order to better themselves and their families?
Where is the President in the lives of those who have gone off to war, sacrificing their lives because there are no jobs to be had at home, sworn to protect the lives and life-styles of those who exploit them and their families for the almighty dollar? What, I ask you, is noble about that?
Where is the President in the lives of the Native Americans, long ago exiled to remote reservations, consigned to a meager existence just in order to survive, with the faint hope that the white man will someday realize the error of his ways and show them the respect they deserve? But, that is ancient history with faint hope of any discernable change.
Where, Mr. Obama, are you in the lives of all those who believed in you, supported you and voted you into office, only to be totally betrayed by all that you have either proven to be or not to be? About all your base can do, at this point, is wait for the other shoe to drop in order to see what other morbid surprises still await us, as you toss us another crumb, capped off with a lofty speech and the promise of better things to come.
Change we can believe in? No matter what you may choose to call it, Mr. President, your record has shown you to be less than the real deal. For the sake of all those who need to believe in you, I wish you were.
Cowboy Bob
May 4, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
"Barack Had a Ball"
If there is one human attribute that trumps all others, in my opinion, it rests with those who have a healthy respect for and a personal commitment to truth. I regard David Michael Green as one of those rare individuals. A bit of Wyoming wisdom that was passed on to me more years ago than I care to remember is “Don’t tell me what you think I want to hear; tell me what you think I need to hear.” I think DMG holds true to those words. His writing is pure genius. He may seem, at times, a bit cynical but, “within the breast of every cynic beats the heart of an idealist.”
Again, David, thanks.
Cowboy Bob
April 18, 2011
*************************************************************************************
“Barack Had a Ball”
The old Obama reappeared this week.
Well, sorta, anyhow.
He gave a speech that liberals could find inspiring.
Again, sorta. And only if you don’t pay attention to a few gigantic caveats.
Let’s come back to that. First, though, the good news. The president got closer than he has in a very long to time to drawing serious lines of distinction between two very different approaches to the social compact in American society. This is work he has desperately needed to do these last two years, and work that has been wholly lacking from this most anemic of presidencies. When I and others criticize Obama for failing to present to the American people an overarching narrative that helps to define for us where the battle lines are drawn, who the good and bad guys are, and what we should believe in and fight for, this is what we critics are talking about. The absence of this narrative (and the gaping vacuum that absence has created for others to fill) is one of the main reasons that this presidency has failed so miserably.
Of course, the deeper problem may well be that such a clarion call is lacking from the president because any underlying convictions of that sort are equally absent. Every meaningful indicator suggests that if you pull back the facade of the anti-war, minority, young, community organizer Democrat, what you get are the politics of Dick Cheney, and sometimes worse.
But apart from that most serious of problems, Obama has fundamentally misunderstood the nature of the office he occupies. Even with all the power he has to push buttons that would destroy the planet, and even with all the millions of people who work underneath him in the federal government, and even with his trusty veto pen, any president’s greatest weapon in a system of separated powers is the bully pulpit. This soapbox is crucial not only for purposes of persuasion, but also for the deeper task of framing (which does most of the heavy lifting when it comes to persuading, anyhow). A smart and effective president gets what he wants by using the bully pulpit to set the agenda of what is debated, by framing how issues are perceived (to use the classic example – is it an ‘estate tax’ or a ‘death tax’?), by selling the public on his position regarding the issue, and then by persuading them to demand that Congress get on-board.
This president almost never does any of that. Worse, he sits by passively while others do exactly that sort of work instead, on their terms. The full measure of Obama’s failures in this respect can be taken by the sheer outrageousness of what Republicans get away with saying. If Harry Truman was in the White House, there’d be no death panel bullshit or birthers, and anyone stupid enough to talk that smack at the president’s expense would pay the heavy burden of being ridiculed for the drooling imbeciles they absolutely are. If FDR was president, we’d be sufficiently reminded that the same kleptocratic elite who crashed the global economy in order to steal from the vast majority of Americans should not be given remotely serious consideration with regard to anything they say (indeed, they should count their blessings just to be on the happy side of prison walls), especially when these thieves call for more of the exact same policies.
Ah, but that was back when Democrats were Democrats. We, instead, get Barack Obama.
Still, for those of us who have so much lamented the absence of political courage in this president, he appears to have taken a step in the right direction this week. A step. Nobody should get overexcited here. You wouldn’t exactly say that his speech showed balls. Well, maybe one. Or two-thirds, perhaps, rounded up to one. In any case it’s fair to say that this week, finally, Barack had a ball.
Or so it appeared, when the president actually went so far as to do the vision thing in his speech. Here’s the key excerpt, where he discussed the Republican plans for America’s future: “Worst of all, this is a vision that says even though America can’t afford to invest in education or clean energy, even though we can’t afford to care for seniors and poor children, we can somehow afford more than $1 trillion in new tax breaks for the wealthy. Think about it. In the last decade, the average income of the bottom 90% of all working Americans actually declined. The top 1% saw their income rise by an average of more than a quarter of a million dollars each. And that’s who needs to pay less taxes? They want to give people like me a two hundred thousand dollar tax cut that’s paid for by asking thirty three seniors to each pay six thousand dollars more in health costs? That’s not right, and it’s not going to happen as long as I’m president. The fact is, their vision is less about reducing the deficit than it is about changing the basic social compact in America. As Ronald Reagan’s own budget director said, there’s nothing “serious” or “courageous” about this plan. There’s nothing serious about a plan that claims to reduce the deficit by spending a trillion dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. There’s nothing courageous about asking for sacrifice from those who can least afford it and don’t have any clout on Capitol Hill. And this is not a vision of the America I know. The America I know is generous and compassionate; a land of opportunity and optimism. We take responsibility for ourselves and each other, for the country we want and the future we share. We are the nation that built a railroad across a continent and brought light to communities shrouded in darkness. We sent a generation to college on the GI bill and saved millions of seniors from poverty with Social Security and Medicare. We have led the world in scientific research and technological breakthroughs that have transformed millions of lives.”
Oh look, America. It lives! Finally the president speaks out about something. Finally he portrays a contrast between the forces of darkness and the rest of us. Finally he draws a line in the sand. Finally he awakens from his long slumber.
Well, like I said. Sorta. I despise Obama and feel passionately that he has betrayed the country. That said, I’ll give him (or even Sarah Palin) credit for getting it right when they do, should that miraculously happen. I do that because my biggest loyalty is to something grossly missing from American politics, and that is a little dose of honesty. So give the president his due for what he did. But while we’re at it, let’s also recognize this for what it is – and what it isn’t – in all its full glory.
The most important single observation to make about this speech is that the president has lost before he’s begun – his newfound willingness to make (mostly oblique) contrasts, notwithstanding. Or, more accurately, it is we who have lost before he’s begun. Anyhow, this is pure Obama. Yield, yield, yield. Then go into negotiations with vicious thugs where – shockingly – you wind up yielding more. That the president could end up in such a position on this particular issue is the most astounding example of this pattern yet. Have we really forgotten, already, who made this mountain of debt, which is now presented by the very same people as the implacable imperative requiring us to slash social spending? Was it liberals who insisted on tax cuts for the wealthy these last thirty years, saying it would raise federal revenues? Was it liberals who decided to invade Iraq on the basis of lies, and not pay for a nickel of those trillions spent with increased taxes or spending cuts? Was it progressives who created a needlessly overly-expensive new prescription drug benefit? Was it liberals who blew the doors off of domestic boondoggle spending when they controlled Congress last decade? Was it liberals who deregulated the finance industry, then bailed Wall Street bankers out one hundred pennies on the dollar after they imploded the global economy? Was it progressives who funneled hundreds of billions of dollars in federal subsidies to giant oil and agricultural corporations? Was it liberals who massively expanded spending on so-called national defense, even though the US has no serious national enemies anywhere on the planet?
No, it was not. It was the exact same set of freaks and monsters who now demand that we must push poor and elderly Americans into the gutter, because the effects of their policies have now drowned us in an ocean of debt, and so that we can do even more of all of the above. It doesn’t get more obvious than this. The point is, if you can’t negotiate from strength on this issue, you can’t negotiate from strength, period. Need I say more about this president?
But negotiating to win appears to be the last thing on Obama’s mind, anyhow. I’m not the first armchair psychologist to note that the guy seems to prize being liked above all other virtues, quite literally including among those others the health and welfare of the nation, a responsibility which he himself sought. And he desperately seeks this social approval even when the people whose kind feelings he covets are spitting in his face, and rolling him, and trouncing him in elections by saying the most outrageous things about him personally, and – most importantly – not at all liking him at the end of the day, despite his very best efforts.
You could see Obama’s craving for acceptance in the content of this speech, and in what he left out. When he talked about how things had gone wrong in the past, he didn’t name names, leaving listeners to believe the Great Republican Lie that everyone is equally culpable. Or even worse, that theirs is, as they claim, the party of fiscal responsibility – a lie of astonishing proportions. You could see it when Obama was delivering the toughest lines of his speech. He kept doing this strange thing with his mouth and chin that made it look very much like he was in pain getting out those words. And you could tell by how he ad-libbed – both what he included, and what he omitted. At one point, he was supposed to say “Finally, there are those who believe we shouldn’t make any reforms to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security out of a fear that any talk of change to these programs will usher in the sort of radical steps that House Republicans have proposed”. And he did say that. It’s just that he dropped the word “radical” when he delivered the line. At another point, he spontaneously added the following to the prepared text: “And even those Republicans I disagree with most strongly I believe are sincere about wanting to do right by their country. We may disagree on our visions, but I truly believe they want to do the right thing”.
The guy obviously has a hard time confronting people. Which is fine with me, if that’s how he wants to run his personal life. I don’t care if Michelle makes him dress up in a Bozo the Clown costume and rides him like a pony in the East Room, and he’s too wimpy to object. That’s up to him. But I’m not okay with Mr. Happy for my president. I don’t want Tom Hanks in the White House, man, I want George Foreman. Or, as former San Francisco mayor Art Agnos once put it, I want somebody “with a Peace Corps heart and linebacker eyes”. I can’t tell whether Obama has any sort of heart at all, but if he does, it’s a Wall Street heart. And as for the rest of his anatomy, I don’t think he’s quite pro football material, do you? Do they take people with cupcake eyes in the NFL?
Obama’s ad-libbed statement is telling in another crucial respect, as well. I don’t know if he really believes that ridiculous shit he mouthed about “those Republicans I disagree with most strongly”, but if he does we are in such a major world of hurt. I’m sorry, Barack, but John Boehner and Mitch McConnell and Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin and George Bush and Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and the rest of that ugly crew – they’re not sincere patriots who really want to do right for the people of America, but who just happen to have a bit of a different vision than most folks do. That particular lie – almost the biggest in the entirely of American politics, a sport with more lies than an endless-loop video of a marathon golf tournament – is such a huge part of our problem, and such a big chunk of the explanation as to why this country is in the state it’s in. These are not patriots, Fool. These are predators. If heroin dealers wrapped themselves in the flag, would you “truly believe they want to do the right thing”? If Hitler belted out the Star Spangled Banner right before the Battle of the Bulge, would you have believed he was “sincere about wanting to do right” by America? Y’know, I could very well be the world’s worst poker player that ever lived, but by god almighty I’d like to sit across the table from this guy for half an hour. Meanwhile, if we have any hope of saving this country, it’s got to start with some truth in advertising. Difficult as it might be for certain Harvard graduates to comprehend, kleptocratic sociopathic marionette politicians crushing the American public by ruthlessly doing the bidding of an insanely greedy corporate oligarchy are not exactly what you’d call patriots. Is it too much to demand a president who can sort out something that basic?
Obama was also vague in offering his supposed alternative to the Republican plan. You can see that, especially in the way he contradicted himself regarding one of the cheapest ploys commonly used by Washington politicians. He rightly pointed out that “Because all this spending is popular with both Republicans and Democrats alike, and because nobody wants to pay higher taxes, politicians are often eager to feed the impression that solving the problem is just a matter of eliminating waste and abuse – that tackling the deficit issue won’t require tough choices”. Good point, Barack. The old “waste and fraud” ruse is as tedious as it is unfortunately effective. But how is that you then, later in the very same speech, tell us that “Over the last two years, Secretary Gates has courageously taken on wasteful spending, saving $400 billion in current and future spending. I believe we can do that again.”? Or that “We will reduce wasteful subsidies and erroneous payments” in healthcare? Isn’t this precisely the sort of nonsense you just got done criticizing others for doing?
Obama also throws out grandiose vagaries like this one about the cost of the US military, saying we need to: “conduct a fundamental review of America’s missions, capabilities, and our role in a changing world”. Really? Let’s me see here now. You’re two-and-a-half years into your presidency, your fighting that same number of meaningless wars abroad, your country is drowning in debt, and you’re just now figuring out that we need to rethink the bloody empire? And you’re proposing that some unspecified person is to begin this process, somehow or another, at some unknown future date? Maybe it’ll be like the Deficit Commission Obama created. He put the truly scary Alan Simpson in charge of that abortion. Given that George W. Bush’s Secretary of Defense is also serving as Obama’s Secretary of Defense, I wonder how this would turn out. And when. After years – years, not months – of being a senator, running for the presidency and being the president, couldn’t we expect somebody to be able to articulate a real plan here?
There are gigantic opportunities sitting there for anyone who genuinely would want to chop federal spending. Opportunities that would not only permit real benefits to the country, and would not only be popular with the public, but would represent incredibly astute politics, forcing the Republicans to defend the worst monsters on the landscape, and forcing them to twist themselves into gruesome pretzels, indulging in the worst forms of overt and high comedic hypocrisy. We’re not talking about low-hanging fruit here, people. We’re talking about peaches, pears and plums that have been picked, cleaned, shipped, purchased, sliced and delivered to the president’s dining room table, sitting there in his expensive china fruit salad bowl that Nancy Reagan bought. Can we not agree to end massive taxpayer subsides to giant corporations making record profits? Can we not agree to have a genuine minimum tax for all well-to-do individuals and corporations, so that GE can’t make $17 billion in profit and still wind up being owed money by the US treasury? Can we not agree to end tax incentives for exporting American jobs overseas? And wouldn’t it look really embarrassing to oppose any of these initiatives? I mean, come on.
And then there’s the whole tough guy routine. Even when Obama says stuff like, “But let me be absolutely clear: I will preserve these health care programs as a promise we make to each other in this society. I will not allow Medicare to become a voucher program that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry, with a shrinking benefit to pay for rising costs. I will not tell families with children who have disabilities that they have to fend for themselves.”, or, “In December, I agreed to extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans because it was the only way I could prevent a tax hike on middle-class Americans. But we cannot afford $1 trillion worth of tax cuts for every millionaire and billionaire in our society. And I refuse to renew them again.” – even when he talks tough like that, does anyone, especially Republicans, take this guy seriously? Isn’t he the guy who said he’d for sure close Guantánamo? And who wanted the public option? Why doesn’t he think Republicans will try the same game of chicken with him on tax cuts for the wealthy that they did last time? And why should we expect that the Capitulation Kid will have a better solution to their gambit than he did last time? And if he does have one, why didn’t he freakin’ whip it out in December? Face it, nobody folds like Obama. He’s the origami president.
Which means that I’ve given up believing his pretty words in speeches like this. Indeed, I suspect that this speech is actually just a bunch of pretty words meant to bring people like me back into the fold. People whom Obama will need a year from now, especially if jobs do not reappear, and if the GOP nominates Twit Romney, who then makes a case to a credulous and bleeding public that he’s got the ol’ private-sector-jobs-creating-know-how-magic in his fingers (you know, just like the kind that the ridiculously flush private sector is using right now, as we speak, to not create jobs). Obama knows he will be vulnerable in 2012, and he needs to bring his base back home, after two-and-a-half years bitch-slapping us with all the regularity of German train schedules, and some of the politics too.
This was not a real speech about progressive values. This was not the resurrection of Harry Truman, a fighter battling for the public interest, a pugilist willing to name names and bloody faces.
This was a campaign speech.
And even if it wasn’t, it is the measure of Obama’s abysmal presidency that people like me believe that it was.
David Michael Green
Professor of Political Science
Hofstra University
Long Island, New York
April 18, 2011
www.theregressiveantidote.net
Again, David, thanks.
Cowboy Bob
April 18, 2011
*************************************************************************************
“Barack Had a Ball”
The old Obama reappeared this week.
Well, sorta, anyhow.
He gave a speech that liberals could find inspiring.
Again, sorta. And only if you don’t pay attention to a few gigantic caveats.
Let’s come back to that. First, though, the good news. The president got closer than he has in a very long to time to drawing serious lines of distinction between two very different approaches to the social compact in American society. This is work he has desperately needed to do these last two years, and work that has been wholly lacking from this most anemic of presidencies. When I and others criticize Obama for failing to present to the American people an overarching narrative that helps to define for us where the battle lines are drawn, who the good and bad guys are, and what we should believe in and fight for, this is what we critics are talking about. The absence of this narrative (and the gaping vacuum that absence has created for others to fill) is one of the main reasons that this presidency has failed so miserably.
Of course, the deeper problem may well be that such a clarion call is lacking from the president because any underlying convictions of that sort are equally absent. Every meaningful indicator suggests that if you pull back the facade of the anti-war, minority, young, community organizer Democrat, what you get are the politics of Dick Cheney, and sometimes worse.
But apart from that most serious of problems, Obama has fundamentally misunderstood the nature of the office he occupies. Even with all the power he has to push buttons that would destroy the planet, and even with all the millions of people who work underneath him in the federal government, and even with his trusty veto pen, any president’s greatest weapon in a system of separated powers is the bully pulpit. This soapbox is crucial not only for purposes of persuasion, but also for the deeper task of framing (which does most of the heavy lifting when it comes to persuading, anyhow). A smart and effective president gets what he wants by using the bully pulpit to set the agenda of what is debated, by framing how issues are perceived (to use the classic example – is it an ‘estate tax’ or a ‘death tax’?), by selling the public on his position regarding the issue, and then by persuading them to demand that Congress get on-board.
This president almost never does any of that. Worse, he sits by passively while others do exactly that sort of work instead, on their terms. The full measure of Obama’s failures in this respect can be taken by the sheer outrageousness of what Republicans get away with saying. If Harry Truman was in the White House, there’d be no death panel bullshit or birthers, and anyone stupid enough to talk that smack at the president’s expense would pay the heavy burden of being ridiculed for the drooling imbeciles they absolutely are. If FDR was president, we’d be sufficiently reminded that the same kleptocratic elite who crashed the global economy in order to steal from the vast majority of Americans should not be given remotely serious consideration with regard to anything they say (indeed, they should count their blessings just to be on the happy side of prison walls), especially when these thieves call for more of the exact same policies.
Ah, but that was back when Democrats were Democrats. We, instead, get Barack Obama.
Still, for those of us who have so much lamented the absence of political courage in this president, he appears to have taken a step in the right direction this week. A step. Nobody should get overexcited here. You wouldn’t exactly say that his speech showed balls. Well, maybe one. Or two-thirds, perhaps, rounded up to one. In any case it’s fair to say that this week, finally, Barack had a ball.
Or so it appeared, when the president actually went so far as to do the vision thing in his speech. Here’s the key excerpt, where he discussed the Republican plans for America’s future: “Worst of all, this is a vision that says even though America can’t afford to invest in education or clean energy, even though we can’t afford to care for seniors and poor children, we can somehow afford more than $1 trillion in new tax breaks for the wealthy. Think about it. In the last decade, the average income of the bottom 90% of all working Americans actually declined. The top 1% saw their income rise by an average of more than a quarter of a million dollars each. And that’s who needs to pay less taxes? They want to give people like me a two hundred thousand dollar tax cut that’s paid for by asking thirty three seniors to each pay six thousand dollars more in health costs? That’s not right, and it’s not going to happen as long as I’m president. The fact is, their vision is less about reducing the deficit than it is about changing the basic social compact in America. As Ronald Reagan’s own budget director said, there’s nothing “serious” or “courageous” about this plan. There’s nothing serious about a plan that claims to reduce the deficit by spending a trillion dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. There’s nothing courageous about asking for sacrifice from those who can least afford it and don’t have any clout on Capitol Hill. And this is not a vision of the America I know. The America I know is generous and compassionate; a land of opportunity and optimism. We take responsibility for ourselves and each other, for the country we want and the future we share. We are the nation that built a railroad across a continent and brought light to communities shrouded in darkness. We sent a generation to college on the GI bill and saved millions of seniors from poverty with Social Security and Medicare. We have led the world in scientific research and technological breakthroughs that have transformed millions of lives.”
Oh look, America. It lives! Finally the president speaks out about something. Finally he portrays a contrast between the forces of darkness and the rest of us. Finally he draws a line in the sand. Finally he awakens from his long slumber.
Well, like I said. Sorta. I despise Obama and feel passionately that he has betrayed the country. That said, I’ll give him (or even Sarah Palin) credit for getting it right when they do, should that miraculously happen. I do that because my biggest loyalty is to something grossly missing from American politics, and that is a little dose of honesty. So give the president his due for what he did. But while we’re at it, let’s also recognize this for what it is – and what it isn’t – in all its full glory.
The most important single observation to make about this speech is that the president has lost before he’s begun – his newfound willingness to make (mostly oblique) contrasts, notwithstanding. Or, more accurately, it is we who have lost before he’s begun. Anyhow, this is pure Obama. Yield, yield, yield. Then go into negotiations with vicious thugs where – shockingly – you wind up yielding more. That the president could end up in such a position on this particular issue is the most astounding example of this pattern yet. Have we really forgotten, already, who made this mountain of debt, which is now presented by the very same people as the implacable imperative requiring us to slash social spending? Was it liberals who insisted on tax cuts for the wealthy these last thirty years, saying it would raise federal revenues? Was it liberals who decided to invade Iraq on the basis of lies, and not pay for a nickel of those trillions spent with increased taxes or spending cuts? Was it progressives who created a needlessly overly-expensive new prescription drug benefit? Was it liberals who blew the doors off of domestic boondoggle spending when they controlled Congress last decade? Was it liberals who deregulated the finance industry, then bailed Wall Street bankers out one hundred pennies on the dollar after they imploded the global economy? Was it progressives who funneled hundreds of billions of dollars in federal subsidies to giant oil and agricultural corporations? Was it liberals who massively expanded spending on so-called national defense, even though the US has no serious national enemies anywhere on the planet?
No, it was not. It was the exact same set of freaks and monsters who now demand that we must push poor and elderly Americans into the gutter, because the effects of their policies have now drowned us in an ocean of debt, and so that we can do even more of all of the above. It doesn’t get more obvious than this. The point is, if you can’t negotiate from strength on this issue, you can’t negotiate from strength, period. Need I say more about this president?
But negotiating to win appears to be the last thing on Obama’s mind, anyhow. I’m not the first armchair psychologist to note that the guy seems to prize being liked above all other virtues, quite literally including among those others the health and welfare of the nation, a responsibility which he himself sought. And he desperately seeks this social approval even when the people whose kind feelings he covets are spitting in his face, and rolling him, and trouncing him in elections by saying the most outrageous things about him personally, and – most importantly – not at all liking him at the end of the day, despite his very best efforts.
You could see Obama’s craving for acceptance in the content of this speech, and in what he left out. When he talked about how things had gone wrong in the past, he didn’t name names, leaving listeners to believe the Great Republican Lie that everyone is equally culpable. Or even worse, that theirs is, as they claim, the party of fiscal responsibility – a lie of astonishing proportions. You could see it when Obama was delivering the toughest lines of his speech. He kept doing this strange thing with his mouth and chin that made it look very much like he was in pain getting out those words. And you could tell by how he ad-libbed – both what he included, and what he omitted. At one point, he was supposed to say “Finally, there are those who believe we shouldn’t make any reforms to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security out of a fear that any talk of change to these programs will usher in the sort of radical steps that House Republicans have proposed”. And he did say that. It’s just that he dropped the word “radical” when he delivered the line. At another point, he spontaneously added the following to the prepared text: “And even those Republicans I disagree with most strongly I believe are sincere about wanting to do right by their country. We may disagree on our visions, but I truly believe they want to do the right thing”.
The guy obviously has a hard time confronting people. Which is fine with me, if that’s how he wants to run his personal life. I don’t care if Michelle makes him dress up in a Bozo the Clown costume and rides him like a pony in the East Room, and he’s too wimpy to object. That’s up to him. But I’m not okay with Mr. Happy for my president. I don’t want Tom Hanks in the White House, man, I want George Foreman. Or, as former San Francisco mayor Art Agnos once put it, I want somebody “with a Peace Corps heart and linebacker eyes”. I can’t tell whether Obama has any sort of heart at all, but if he does, it’s a Wall Street heart. And as for the rest of his anatomy, I don’t think he’s quite pro football material, do you? Do they take people with cupcake eyes in the NFL?
Obama’s ad-libbed statement is telling in another crucial respect, as well. I don’t know if he really believes that ridiculous shit he mouthed about “those Republicans I disagree with most strongly”, but if he does we are in such a major world of hurt. I’m sorry, Barack, but John Boehner and Mitch McConnell and Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin and George Bush and Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and the rest of that ugly crew – they’re not sincere patriots who really want to do right for the people of America, but who just happen to have a bit of a different vision than most folks do. That particular lie – almost the biggest in the entirely of American politics, a sport with more lies than an endless-loop video of a marathon golf tournament – is such a huge part of our problem, and such a big chunk of the explanation as to why this country is in the state it’s in. These are not patriots, Fool. These are predators. If heroin dealers wrapped themselves in the flag, would you “truly believe they want to do the right thing”? If Hitler belted out the Star Spangled Banner right before the Battle of the Bulge, would you have believed he was “sincere about wanting to do right” by America? Y’know, I could very well be the world’s worst poker player that ever lived, but by god almighty I’d like to sit across the table from this guy for half an hour. Meanwhile, if we have any hope of saving this country, it’s got to start with some truth in advertising. Difficult as it might be for certain Harvard graduates to comprehend, kleptocratic sociopathic marionette politicians crushing the American public by ruthlessly doing the bidding of an insanely greedy corporate oligarchy are not exactly what you’d call patriots. Is it too much to demand a president who can sort out something that basic?
Obama was also vague in offering his supposed alternative to the Republican plan. You can see that, especially in the way he contradicted himself regarding one of the cheapest ploys commonly used by Washington politicians. He rightly pointed out that “Because all this spending is popular with both Republicans and Democrats alike, and because nobody wants to pay higher taxes, politicians are often eager to feed the impression that solving the problem is just a matter of eliminating waste and abuse – that tackling the deficit issue won’t require tough choices”. Good point, Barack. The old “waste and fraud” ruse is as tedious as it is unfortunately effective. But how is that you then, later in the very same speech, tell us that “Over the last two years, Secretary Gates has courageously taken on wasteful spending, saving $400 billion in current and future spending. I believe we can do that again.”? Or that “We will reduce wasteful subsidies and erroneous payments” in healthcare? Isn’t this precisely the sort of nonsense you just got done criticizing others for doing?
Obama also throws out grandiose vagaries like this one about the cost of the US military, saying we need to: “conduct a fundamental review of America’s missions, capabilities, and our role in a changing world”. Really? Let’s me see here now. You’re two-and-a-half years into your presidency, your fighting that same number of meaningless wars abroad, your country is drowning in debt, and you’re just now figuring out that we need to rethink the bloody empire? And you’re proposing that some unspecified person is to begin this process, somehow or another, at some unknown future date? Maybe it’ll be like the Deficit Commission Obama created. He put the truly scary Alan Simpson in charge of that abortion. Given that George W. Bush’s Secretary of Defense is also serving as Obama’s Secretary of Defense, I wonder how this would turn out. And when. After years – years, not months – of being a senator, running for the presidency and being the president, couldn’t we expect somebody to be able to articulate a real plan here?
There are gigantic opportunities sitting there for anyone who genuinely would want to chop federal spending. Opportunities that would not only permit real benefits to the country, and would not only be popular with the public, but would represent incredibly astute politics, forcing the Republicans to defend the worst monsters on the landscape, and forcing them to twist themselves into gruesome pretzels, indulging in the worst forms of overt and high comedic hypocrisy. We’re not talking about low-hanging fruit here, people. We’re talking about peaches, pears and plums that have been picked, cleaned, shipped, purchased, sliced and delivered to the president’s dining room table, sitting there in his expensive china fruit salad bowl that Nancy Reagan bought. Can we not agree to end massive taxpayer subsides to giant corporations making record profits? Can we not agree to have a genuine minimum tax for all well-to-do individuals and corporations, so that GE can’t make $17 billion in profit and still wind up being owed money by the US treasury? Can we not agree to end tax incentives for exporting American jobs overseas? And wouldn’t it look really embarrassing to oppose any of these initiatives? I mean, come on.
And then there’s the whole tough guy routine. Even when Obama says stuff like, “But let me be absolutely clear: I will preserve these health care programs as a promise we make to each other in this society. I will not allow Medicare to become a voucher program that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry, with a shrinking benefit to pay for rising costs. I will not tell families with children who have disabilities that they have to fend for themselves.”, or, “In December, I agreed to extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans because it was the only way I could prevent a tax hike on middle-class Americans. But we cannot afford $1 trillion worth of tax cuts for every millionaire and billionaire in our society. And I refuse to renew them again.” – even when he talks tough like that, does anyone, especially Republicans, take this guy seriously? Isn’t he the guy who said he’d for sure close Guantánamo? And who wanted the public option? Why doesn’t he think Republicans will try the same game of chicken with him on tax cuts for the wealthy that they did last time? And why should we expect that the Capitulation Kid will have a better solution to their gambit than he did last time? And if he does have one, why didn’t he freakin’ whip it out in December? Face it, nobody folds like Obama. He’s the origami president.
Which means that I’ve given up believing his pretty words in speeches like this. Indeed, I suspect that this speech is actually just a bunch of pretty words meant to bring people like me back into the fold. People whom Obama will need a year from now, especially if jobs do not reappear, and if the GOP nominates Twit Romney, who then makes a case to a credulous and bleeding public that he’s got the ol’ private-sector-jobs-creating-know-how-magic in his fingers (you know, just like the kind that the ridiculously flush private sector is using right now, as we speak, to not create jobs). Obama knows he will be vulnerable in 2012, and he needs to bring his base back home, after two-and-a-half years bitch-slapping us with all the regularity of German train schedules, and some of the politics too.
This was not a real speech about progressive values. This was not the resurrection of Harry Truman, a fighter battling for the public interest, a pugilist willing to name names and bloody faces.
This was a campaign speech.
And even if it wasn’t, it is the measure of Obama’s abysmal presidency that people like me believe that it was.
David Michael Green
Professor of Political Science
Hofstra University
Long Island, New York
April 18, 2011
www.theregressiveantidote.net
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